The Watchers Programme
by ElenDome
Summary: School is not theirs but they sure act like it. The new headmaster's Watchers programme is supposed to give them a reason to be responsible and keep out of trouble... in theory. AU, OOC,language, GrimmVega, slight GrimmIchi and other pairings. Written by Noxi
1. Setting the stage

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tite Kubo... or something.**

**_So. This is going to be a 10... 11... 12... –shot, if my proverbial laziness won't get the best of me. I promise I won't go all Starrk on you and won't stop at least until we get to the smut-part, have to lose my yaoi virginity at some point... right?_**

**_This chapter is disgustingly short, but it is necessary to set the story and I PROMISE the next chap will be all about our favourite kitten;) –N._**

_The door behind him closed with a thump as the new headmaster of Karakura High made his way to the front of the school's conference room. Some of the teachers were already waiting in anticipation, others merely looked his way as he moved to the front. Today was the day Byakuya Kuchiki officially took over the position of the fourth headmaster that year and most of the teachers' board sympathized with him. Karakura High's reputation was systematically being ruined for the last four years, thanks to a certain group of self-entitled delinquents and, although every positioned headmaster had their own ways of dealing with discipline issues, none of them were even remotely successful. _

_Byakuya Kuchiki cleared his throat and glanced over the neon-lit room. _

_»Greetings. My name is Kuchiki Byakuya and I'm the new headmaster. Now, let me get straight to the point: I read all the files and reports of my predecessors...«_

_»Yare, yare, aren't you eager...« some of the teachers chuckled as their lazy-looking collegue slowly shaked his head._

_»I believe that one should let others finish and then talk.« Kuchiki's answer was cold and sharp as he adressed an older male in a pink jacket. _

_Said man slowly raised his eyebrow: »And I believe, since I've been working here a tad longer than your-respected-self, that one should not get cocky and base their opinions about this school on paperwork. That's what all your beloved predecessors did and look where it got them.«_

_Byakuya looked down on his immaculately highlighted notes. He worked days and nights for the last month to get all his facts and data straight, he even did some research on teenage violence, bullying and other discipline issues. In fact, he was one step short on having a good hour long lecture on how they should be running the school for the last decade to avoid teenager-authority issues._

_A tall and skinny man with long white hair stood up. »Hello, Kuchiki-san, and welcome. My name is Yuushiro Ukitake and firstly, let me apologise for Kyoraku-san's not-so-polite behaviour. But please, allow us to be honest with you. Whatever new plan you have for establishing order and discipline in this school, you better rethink it. Previous plans included every form of upbringing, from the most permissive and encouraging environment to almost military-style rigid set of rules we practice now. Which is interesting, as I personally find these rules more entrapping for the teachers as they are for students. They are smart and eager to bend them and find loopholes. To sum up, they will always, and I mean always, find a way around the system and adapt it so it suits them most, while we're caught in not only school policy but other regulations also...« _

_Ukitake stopped to give out a cough and Byakuya looked like he wanted something to say, but one of the teachers wearing sunglasses shouted from the back: »Then expel those little fuckers and regain control of this school! Why the hell are we acting like some helpless sheep when we are dealing with fucking teenagers!« _

_Ukitake slowly turned around and gave the other a stern glare: »And that would accomplish what exactly, Iba-san? Depriving them of education and a high school degree? Let them loose on the streets and who knows what they'll become. I myself prefer them in school and with at least some kind of future than roaming the streets and joining a gang.«_

_»They already are a gang! Remember the beating of the Hanatarou-boy last year? God, they didn't even do it themselves, their worshippers did it for them!« A high-pitched voice reached Byakuya as he turned to the tall, grayish-haired female with dark furious eyes. »It just can't be done, Ukitake-san! Let us just get through another year without any incident of this scale and some of us will already deem it successful...«_

_Ukitake was now visibly angry, but knew how to pick his battles, so he sat. He never had any major problems with the students, even the most infamous ones somehow always paid at least some sort of attention in his World literature class. Becouse of that he had hard time believing that those boys were such a lost cause as some in the room wanted them to be. _

_»Allright, so...« Byakuya finally found a chance to join the heated conversation. »I have one last question for you, before we start looking for possible solutions together. Where are the parents?« _

_Silence met him. And then some of the teachers started chuckling and the man in a pink jacket stood up and made his way to the exit, sighing: »My, aren't you a newbie...« But before he managed to grab the doorknob, Byakuya's icy voice stopped him: »Firstly, I don't remember announcing the end of the meeting. And secondly, yes, I am a so-called newbie, but I am willing to listen to well-argumented proposed solutions and if you have any better ideas - based on your vast experience - than running out that door then, by all means, enlighten me.« Byakuya's head was starting to hurt a little, but he stood his ground. _

_Some teachers were now glancing between the two like they were watching a tennis match and Kyoraku Shunsui didn't really like being put on a stand like that. He crossed his arms across his chest, looked down and sighed. For a moment he looked deep in thought. »I was kind of thinking about it...« he started quietly. When nobody interrupted him, he slowly moved back to his seat. »I was thinking about our approach to discipline. We always tried to tell them how to behave properly and expect them to be adults but... without any real duties for adult people. Or we leave them alone completely and... oh come on!« He looked at his female collegue from before as she commented something to the dark haired woman next to her. »You really think that regular handed-in homework is the only sign of adult behaviour?« _

_The woman- Isane- stood up and countered: »No, but it is the minimum of what adult behaviour they can show us and they seldomly do that!«_

_»Well, the way my idea went is that somehow we give them not-so-shitty-schoolish tasks but something more, you know, real sense of duty and maybe we could create a more peaceful environment, but if you want to smother them with more pointless homework from ape behaviour, please, be my fucking guest and let me know how it worked out for you.« _

_Kyouraku now sat down and Byakuya realised that the teachers were kind of tired and worn out, it seemed like they had this kind of meetings all the time, and they now no longer expect any results. Further, they just started taking this meetings as their personal vent and somehow wound up yelling and cursing at eachother at the end. But Byakuya was a smart man and wanted to end it without escalation. »Right now, there is not much we can do anymore but please, let me think about everything that was said and let's meet again, preferably tomorrow. We may have some fresh ideas by then. Thank you for attending.« With that minimum of polite behaviour, he picked up his all-forgotten notes and quickly left the room, a small beginning of an idea forming in his mind._

+x+x+x+x+x+x+

»Remind me, why am I going to THAT place again?« Nnoitra Jiruga was walking slowly towards the entrance of Karakura High and absentmindedly kicking a stone.

Beside him, a tall, brown-haired boy shrugged and stopped by a small fountain in the school-yard and sat on the edge. »Legacy, dear fish stick.«

Nnoitra turned around and grinned: »Maybe. Sooo... Chad, any candidates in mind? I'm in actual physical pain just thinking about replacing Starrk and Shiro, but those old farts are now in college. We need fresh meat.«

Chad shrugged again and glanced around the schoolyard. »How about that guy from the volleyball team, Hisagi-something? He looks... cool.« He ended the sentence with a barely audible whisper and it was enough to send Nnoitra in the fits of laughter.

»Yeaaaah right! Here we are, looking for new contributing members and you just want one you can poke with your _jalapeño_... a-aaaaa, not happening dear imported friend. Hot AND rich are the words.«

»Then why the hell are we keeping you around for?« A slim blonde boy joined the conversation and Nnoitra stuck his tongue out to the newcomer.

Chad's dark brown eyes lit up: »Shin, my man! Where the hell have you been all summer!« He stood up and threw a hand around the shorter blondie's shoulders. Shinji looked up and grinned to his giant friend: »Oh you know, around, just busy being a badass motherfucker...«

Nnoitra was grinning again. »Yeah, we watched you on internet feed, almost poking that poor boy's eye out. You. Call. This. Kendo?« every word was emphasized with Nnoitra s finger hitting Shinji's forehead.

Shinji brushed his friend's lanky finger away and snorted: »Whatever Jiruga, I bet you all got pretty wasted 'cos of me winning. His eye wasn't that hurt you know, he was just yelling like a little bitch he is...«

In that moment he was interrupted by a school bell announcing the beginning of class. The gang slowly stood up and made their way inside as Shinji was still feeding his two friends with details of oh-so-kick-ass tournaments.

They quickly found the 4-A classroom, which implied that they are now fourth-graders and officially the seniors of the school.

+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+

Meanwhile, a certain red-haired boy was leasurely sitting in the back row of the very same classroom and smirking contently: »So, you want this or not?«

There was a small stack of papers neatly put on the table before him and he flipped through them gently, as one of his schoolmates nervously shifted his weight.

»Come on, Kurosaki. You said this was enough!« he threw some bills on the stack.

»Yeah, I know what I said, but let's look at the situation like adults, Ilforte. When we set the price for this baby you had all the time in the world to write it yourself... aaaand now the time has run out for ya.« His eyes were sparkling with mischief and he tilted his head slightly to the side. »You kinda brought it upon yourself, you know...« He winked to the horrified Ilforte.

»Fuck, Kurosaki... Can I at least bring you the rest tomorrow? I don't have this much money on me and we have to hand the essay in today...«

»Oh my, shitting your pants much, Ilforte?« Kurosaki was now almost laughing. »Add another ten percent and we have a deal. After all, I did sacrifice four hours of my precious holiday time to support your lazy ass.«

Ilforte looked defeated and mumbled something in agreement.

The redhead stood up, handed him the stack and streched his hand: »Pleasure doing business with little maggots like you, Ilforte. Now...« his eyes darkened and his expression changed to something almost life-threatening. »Do I have to remind you what happens to little maggots if they don't do as they're told?«

Ilforte gulped and he shook his head feverously.

»OK then, just don't let my man Chad pay you a visit, unless there are any limbs you are willing to miss.« With that the redhead let go of Ilforte's hand and waved him away.

Kurosaki sat down and looked pretty pleased with himself, as he noticed three individuals at the door, watching him scaring the shit out of their school mate.

»Oy, Ichigo, marking the territory already?« Nnoitra yelled and Chad raised his hand in greeting, as they both started walking to him.

Shinji was right behind them and followed his wolf pack to the back, a small evil smile quirking his lips. As they passed the blackboard, he streched his hand, his fingers resting next to it only for a second before he viciously dug his nails into the board and began dragging them along as he walked. The screeching sound that emanated from it quickly gained attention of his schoolmates. Some of them covered their ears and others just looked absolutely terrified. Shinji glanced over the classroom and sprouted a menacing grin: »Fuck yeah bitches, we're back.«

+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+

_**Please... review... **_***blush***


	2. Auditions

**Effin' three in the morning! O.o**

Grimmjow's head jerked up as the screeching sound invaded his ears. He was just about to take a nap until the lesson started as he heard the petite psycho blonde announce his presence.

_I sincerely hoped they will somehow outgrow this piss-all-over-to-mark-territory attitude. Fuck, can't even nap properly... _Grimmjow yawned and decided to ignore Shinji. It was pretty much what he did for the last three years and was always fascinated how almost every other student either feared them or tried desperately to join them.

»Well, Hirako-kun, If you are done with your display of power then perhaps it is time for us to start our lesson?« As the little psycho blonde sat down, the teacher with long white hair stepped into 4-A and students couldn't help themselves but stare a little. Yuushiro Ukitake was a sight to behold in his grey jacket, black long-sleeved shirt and ripped grey jeans.

»Yes, Ukitake-sensei, I think it is.« _Did that psycho blonde just wink at Ukitake? _

»Good, then perhaps we could start by everybody handing in the essays. May I suggest we start with you, Hirako-kun?«

Shinji was smiling widely and leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table and cupping his face in his palms. Batting his eyelashes... _I mean really? ..._ to Ukitake, he stated: »I'd love that, Ukitake-sensei, but you see... I was on tournaments most of the summer and it was just too intense for me to read anything that wasn't written by me with my opponent's blood...«

Grimmjow snorted to himself. Too loud. When he turned, he saw blondie and the redhead glaring into his direction.

»Oi, Ukitake-sensei, I think my friend Shinji is excused due to the champion status, go check that into the school's policy. But if I may suggest, you should start with that new blue-haired something. He looks eager to... _stand out_...«

_New? Something? They don't even remember their schoolmates now? _Grimmjow shook his head in disbelief and turned to face the teacher.

Ukitake looked utterly unfazed and just flipped some pages in his evaluation book: »Well, we still have to start somewhere...«

Grimmjow nodded in agreement: »Right. And unfortunatelly not with me. Have to claim the same champion privileges as Blondie.«

Ukitake looked up and sighed: »Jaegerjacquez, I presume?«

»Right again.«

»You have been pretty successful last year, still running long-distance?« Ukitake looked genuinely interested and Grimmjow couldn't help but feel like bragging a little. He grinned widely and risked a quick glance into Shinji's direction.

»Yeah, nailed a few races while I was abroad. One should not be limited to country borders when talking championships.«

Shinji now looked utterly pissed. Grimmjow knew better than provoking the elite but just couldn't help himself.

Ukitake smiled and sat down. »Congratulations, Jaegerjacquez-kun. Keep up the good work, OK? Now, is there anybody else with any kind of special-snowflake status or are there actually some essays written?«

Some students in the first row raised their hands eagerly.

_And here we are, witnessing the official beginning of another year of boredom. _Grimmjow leaned back in his chair and tried to follow one nerd's interpretation of a certain rabbit-moment from _For whom the bell tolls. _Then he felt a tug on his shirt and saw a girl behind him leaning forward, handing him a small piece of folded paper. He curiously unfolded it and raised an eyebrow.

_'You can run but you cannot hide...' _

_What the hell... Can't Blondie take a joke? Knew I should keep my mouth shut..._ Grimmjow turned to face Shinji and probably flip him off, but was surprised a little when Blondie was actually talking quietly with that giant Chad. There were another set of eyes looking into his direction.

_Ichigo, The Brains._

Grimmjow smirked and scribbled 'I never do, Berryhead' on the paper, then passed it back. He regretted it immediatelly as Ichigo crammed the paper into his pocket and leaned back, a mischieveous smile playing on his lips.

_Fuck, now I am on their radar, royally screwed and can kiss a boring senior year's ass goodbye. _The blue-haired boy lingered on the thought for a second and was surprised that it actually didn't bother him as much as it should. He smirked back to the redhead. _Well bring it on, you filthy snob._

+x+x+x+x+x+x+

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful and Grimmjow couldn't see the end of it. As the bell rang to announce the end of the school-day, he practically ran out of the classroom and made his way to the lockers, as he was scheduled for some after-school training. He was just about to enter the lockers when he heard his name called. A boy with long dark red hair caught up with him and grinned widely: »Ready to run away from your own mouth I see? I heard you out-smartassed Hirako and Kurosaki today. After you die, can I get your sneakers?« _God, news travel fast..._

Entering the lockers Grimmjow threw himself on the bench and let out an exasperated sigh. »You heard, huh. Don't know what posessed me.«

"I have a pretty good idea what posessed you..." Renji smirked as he took his shirt off. They were now changing their street clothes for same-looking grey knee-length shorts and t-shirts with school emblems.

"It's a classic with you, you know. Impulsive, just like when you run."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Renji just laughed: "Don't remember, huh? Last year, when you almost died after twelve laps of sprinting in front of me?"

"I don't see..."

"Sure you don't. Fuck, man... It's your competitive nature. I'm sure you could keep a steady pace and run more than twelve but you just had to be faster, didn't you? Just like with Hirako..."

They were now leaving the building and were heading towards the stadium. It was a sunny and warm day outside and it was Grimmjow's perfect idea of training circumstances. He streched his hands over his head and quickened the pace.

"What about Hirako?"

Renji cought up in no time. "Yes, exactly, what about him? Did he challenge you in any way?"

"Well he was drooning on about his champ status..." A few seconds passed and then Grimmjow felt a hard smack on his head.

"And you just went and played along like a good fucking bitch you are, right?" Renji was slowly shaking his head. "You had to brag. Such a child." And then he started running towards the stadium, leaving behind a very confused Grimmjow.

_Well fuck me if I understand you, Abarai._

Grimmjow didn't even bother with the warm-ups as he started jogging slowly on the outside track. First lap was finished in no time and he wasn't even feeling it. He used to train a lot over the summer and was determined to take out the most of the next two months' warm weather. Then will come the rain and cold, and then it will be winter and he will have to resort to gym and fitness-devices and all the indoor training that he loathed but needed if he was to stay in shape. The thought of being confined in a small room with sweaty men was making him a little claustrophobic. Not that he had a problem with men, after all he knew for a while now that he prefered them over women at any given time. _No, my problem is strictly their smell. Either they should go easy on deodorants and cologne or they should just get acquainted with this thing called shower more often. _Grimmjow wrinkled his nose at the thought and took a deep breath of fresh air, savouring it to the fullest. Finishing his fifth lap he was proud to find out his breathing remained steady and he expected to finish twenty by the end of the training session.

As he passed the tribunes when finishing the eleventh one he caught a glimpse of something bright red, almost a moment he felt like stopping and checking if he was right, but dismissed the thought before it formed completely. _Who gives a shit, this is my fucking time, check breathing-quickened, check pace- still too fucking slow... _So he sped up a bit and after finishing his seventeenth lap he was breathing heavily and sweating all over, but still kept going.

It was the last two-hundred meters that nearly finished him off but then his stubborn nature kicked in, driving him past the finishing line. Then he was as good as dead. He just lay down on the tracks and tried not to pass out from the lack of oxygen. _Breathe iiiiin... oooout... iiin... shit... out...The hell was I thinking... _

»You sick bastard, I knew the army did some wacky experiments on you!« Renji apparently approached him as he was barely holding on to his vital signs.

»Can't... talk... dy...ing...« Renji chuckled and offered him a hand. Grimmjow slowly took it and stood up just enough to grab Renji's shoulder and hold on to it.

»Are you sure you'll be alright? I mean, do you need an oil change or something?«

Grimmjow was now alive enough to chuckle a bit.»Man, that was... intense.« Renji snorted and tried to make his blue-haired sweaty mess of a friend go to the side-benches. »Understatement. Even Kurosaki agreed that you have some serious extraterrestrial stamina going on.«

Grimmjow's head jerked up in surprise. »Kurosaki?«

»Heh, don't worry, he's not here to kill you no matter what he wants you to believe.«

»Then why is he here?«

»He came to say hi to me... or, if we put it more honestly, he needed a reason to stalk you.«

Grimmjow was now sporting a full-on frown. »Why would...«

»An elite bastard like him say hi to me or stalk you? Well, we kind of go way back, I knew him since he was still shitting his diapers and we were really close until we hit fifteen. As for why he's stalking you, I haven't the slightest.«

»Maybe he's trying to catch me alone and dissect me so nobody will ever find my sorry-ass again...«

Renji let out a laugh and elbowed him gently: »Don't worry, after this I'm sure nobody could catch you even if they tried.«

Grimmjow raised his eyebrows to Renji. _Why is this tattooed ape single again? He's so fucking nice, smart and...well, he's not ugly I think... at least some of the girls thought so. Those who were not affected by the elite-shits. _»Thanks, Abarai... means a lot.«

Renji stood up from the bench and nodded towards the school. »_De nada. _'sides, if they do catch you, I still have dibs on your sneakers.«

Grimmjow just laughed and followed him into the lockers.

After taking a shower and changing back to his black stonewashed jeans and a sky blue sleeveless shirt, he left through the main entrance of the building. He ran his fingers through his dampened hair a few times, leaving them in a mess just the way he liked it. _Just the way a lot of people seem to like it... _his lips formed a small smile and he was just about to recall the last time someone used his hair for a poor excuse of a pick-up line, when suddenly...

»Jaegerjacquez.«

Grimmjow turned and saw a certain redhead sitting on the edge of the fountain. _Not a redhead in the sun though, his hair just looks bright orange. _It did remind him of fire a little.

»What?«

Kurosaki stood up and approached him. »You really _can_ run, you know.«

_Is this a joke? _»Well, no, that was my fucking twin killing the track. What do you want, Kurosaki?«

Ichigo just shrugged nonchalantly. »Nothing in particular, just wanted to talk to you a bit.«

Grimmjow raised his eyebrow. »Twice in a day? What is it, charity day already or should I feel special?«

Kurosaki stepped closer and tilted his head to the side, then pressed his tongue to his teeth, so that only a small ball of his tongue-piercing stuck out. »Fuck yes, you should. I think I'm the only one who stands in Shinji's way as he really wants to hand your ass over to you.«

Grimmjow bent over a little to come even closer to Kurosaki's face, after all, the redhead – _or orange-head as the matter of fact- _was quite a bit shorter than himself. »Well thank you for mistaking me for a damsel in distress but you can send that psycho-blonde to me anytime.«

Ichigo just snorted: »Damsel... there's a picture for my entertainment. Nah, I won't. He'll come to his senses and probably take it out on the first poor maggot of an opponent.«

»He really is good, isn't he?« Grimmjow attempted to have just a moment of normal conversation, seeing that the berry won't leave any time soon. He started walking away from the schoolground and Ichigo just started walking beside him.

»Yup, the best in the country.«

They walked in silence for some time and Grimmjow was slightly beginning to wonder if he should say something, when Ichigo looked at him.

»Where were you last year?«

Grimmjow just stopped. _He HAS to be shitting me..._

»And where would I be?«

Ichigo now looked genuinely confused. _Or maybe it is just another trick of a master manipulator that he is._

»I don't remember you, were you in another class, Grimmjow?«

»You really are shitting me, right? We were schoolmates for three years now.«

»No.«

Grimmjow raised his eyebrows in disbelief for the second time that day. »Are you fucking serious...?«

»Yup. I think I would remember you. You are interesting, Grimmjow. At least now that I know you exist. I'd like to talk more tomorrow, if you don't mind. Find me during lunch break?«

It was Grimmjow's time to snort again. _I'd rather choke to death on a pickle._ »I think not, Kurosaki. Might catch something from your lanky friend.«

Ichigo stuck his pierced tongue out again and smiled. _It really should be a coincidence that his piercing-ball is sky-blue too, it should, it so should be... but it's probably not. _

»OK then, Grimmjow. I'll see you around.«

With that he just walked away as Grimmjow realised that he is standing at the entrance to the building he lived in. _That fucking bastard, that sneaky little piece of shit... he now knows where I live. _

He couldn't believe how naive he acted but again, Grimmjow realised that the thought should bother him more than it did.

+x+x+x+x++x+x+x+x+x+

»Grimm, over here!«

It was the following day during lunch break that Grimmjow finally understood what it meant to be somewhat connected with the elite. Obviously, some of the students saw him hanging out with Ichigo the day before and rumors spread like fire over Karakura high. A few of his acquaintances tried to make him talk about it and refused to believe that _there is one fucking big nothing going on between him and the redhead. _Grimmjow was really getting frustrated with increasingly wild stories that even involved some bondage and blood-spilling.

»Grimm, wait!«

He turned around and saw a small, dark-haired girl running towards him.

»Is it true? That you and Kurosaki held hands while he walked you home?« Two big dark blue eyes were staring at him expectantly and Grimmjow let out an exasperated sigh. Then he just leaned forward and looked deep in the girl's eyes, saying: »Sure we did, Rukia. Then he kissed me goodbye, but I just couldn't let him go yet, you know, him being my fucking soulmate and shit, so I invited him to my room, where we just sat on the bed and stared into eachother's eyes until they popped out and left us both blind. These are actually glass-implants, but they look _soooooo _real, don't they?«

The girl seemed confused for a second.»Wha...«

»What he is trying to say, Rukia, is that you should prance away and leave him alone.«

Grimmjow was extremely relieved when Renji joined them and looked just as annoyed as himself. »Come on, run along!« Renji waved the petite pest away and led his still baffled friend to the opposite direction.

»Care to elaborate why I had to listen to sappy romance stories involving a certain Kurosaki all day?«

They sat down under a tree in a short distance to the schoolyard.

Grimmjow leaned forward and rest his forehead on his knees. »I don't know, Renji... he waited for me and followed me home or something, little bitch...«

»Oy, don't call him that.«

Grimmjow's head jerked up in surprise. »Why not? I've called him worse before.«

Renji was now looking slightly to the right, where Ichigo and his gang were sitting and laughing as Nnoitra was apparently reinacting something that could only be seen on Animal Channel.

»He's really not that bad you know. I mean, if you...« the boy ran his fingers through his hair to keep them off his tattoed face. »Well, if _he _likes you then... what I'm saying is that you should give him a chance you know. He can be pretty sweet.«

Grimmjow just stared. »What kind of meds did you take this morning? Don't tell me you believed just for a filthy second that what's told around is true.«

Renji turned to look into Grimmjow's baby-blue eyes and held his gaze for a moment. »I fucking know better Grimm, but I know Kurosaki too. He's snobbish and one perfect specimen of a stuck-up ass, but he's...«

Renji's words were interrupted as Ichigo's voice traveled from a distance.

»Ilfooorteeeee, don't you have something for me?«

The other three just smirked as Ichigo slowly approached their schoolmate, who was sitting on a bench and put his hands on both sides of Ilforte, gripping tightly to the panel that served as a backrest. Ilforte leaned back trying to get away, his face worried as he anxiously glanced around for help. Ichigo leaned forward a bit more, so he was facing his schoolmate directly, their noses almost touching. He stayed like that for a few seconds then approached his lips to Ilforte's right ear and whispered a few words. Ilforte froze and shook his head, then frantically started babbling something while looking positively terrified. Ichigo was still smiling when he put his left-hand index finger to Ilforte's mouth to shush him. Appeased with the effect his words and actions had on the boy, Ichigo gradually turned from his prey and looked in Grimmjow's direction. The redhead crooked a smile and winked at him, then slowly returned to his group.

_My fucking god, that was... _Grimmjow just expected some words like 'a disgusting display of manipulation' to come out but his subconscious betrayed him and replaced it with... '_utterly sexy'._

_No. NO, NO, NO! That's... oh fuck it, he's hot. _

Grimmjow's blue eyes followed the redhead, as him and his gang made their way back inside. He knew what they witnessed was a very sublime form of a threat but he couldn't care less. _He is such an arrogant asshole, he knows damn straight how fuckable he is and with his brains he could outsmart the devil himself. On his worst day. When hit on the head with a fucking brick. _

»Sure you won't come in your pants just about now?«

Grimmjow chuckled and turned to Renji. »Was he always like that?«

Renji looked pensive for a moment. »I don't know really. I knew him when he was as sweet as a lollipop. He had his moments of a full-on asshole diagnose before, but that was just him being a mama's boy. The rest you know.«

Grimmjow nodded: »Yeah, you mentioned something about being fifteen. What was that about?«

Renji just stood up and streched a little, then headed towards the entrance. »Fuck me if I know.«

+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+

Today, not even after-school training with their brutal coach Yammy helped Grimmjow to take his mind off Kurosaki's spectacle. By the end of practice Grimmjow was so frustrated with himself that didn't even bother to change back to normal clothes, he just shoved them into the sportsbag and rushed home. _Sweet solitude of ever-empty five-room appartment. Folks are out of town again, that means there's still beer in the fridge._

He took the longer route, as he decided to grab some of his favourite takeout. Leisurely walking down the road and enjoying the evening sun, he couldn't help but notice some admiring looks from people passing by. He knew the last summer worked miracles for him and his appearance but some of the bypassers actually stopped and stared in awe.

Grimmjow always knew he was a bit on a handsome side, but he was always so skinny and there was this issue with the strange hair color he inherited from his mother that he never really got used to. He got over it this summer though, thanks to a certain American that trained him, when he was visiting his family's company branch in Dallas with his father.

Not only this man –_Aizen, if I remember correctly – _helped him improve his technique, his approach taught Grimmjow how to work out his entire body and in no time Grimmjow became more solid and developed some serious upper-body strength.

And it really showed, as his school t-shirt never felt that tight around the shoulders before. _I think I'll have to ask coach Yum for a bigger one, although I look bitchin' in this one._ He smirked to himself and winked to a group of girls that looked ready to die from a massive nosebleed right there.

The doorbell rang as he entered his favourite eating place, Omaeda's. It was a fancy chain of sushi restaurants and the owner was one big eccentric goof, that went to college together with Grimmjow's father. Thus Grimmjow always received some extra special treatment, when it came to his order.

Said goof was leaning next to a counter and talking with one of the employees: »Yes Tesla, those four orders somehow got mixed up and I won't have that you know, it's a matter of principle...« He glanced towards the door and jumped. »Grimmjow, my boy! Long time no see!«

Grimmjow approached the man and grinned back.

»Nice to see you too, Omaeda-san. How's business?«

Omaeda patted him on the shoulder and shrugged. »Good as usual, should be better next month though. Tell me, you want the usual?«

Grimmjow nodded and Omaeda yelled the order to his employers and made sure Grimmjow was supplied with some extra desserts he picked from the menu.

»What, Omaeda-san, want me to get fat?«

Omaeda laughed out loud: »My dear boy, the way you look these days there's no fear for that to happen!«

Grimmjow winked at the owner and took the wallet from his sportsbag.

»What the hell do you think you're doing? This one is on the house Grimm, be sure to come and visit again soon, alright?«

The boy bowed a little and thanked the older man, then exited the restaurant firmly decided to have a wonderful and peaceful evening.

The streets were now more or less empty and only a few people passed him as he walked down the road towards his parents' condo. He was just walking by a small passage between buildings, when he heard a loud thud and a strange yell. _It's not really in my nature to mess with other people's business but damn... could at least check if anybody needs ambulance._

He put down his sportsbag and carefully looked around the corner where he saw three human male forms. One was seated and squeezed next to the wall and the other two were just towering over him, when the smaller one raised his foot just to nudge the sitting form a little.

_They look unarmed but the big one could pose a problem, damn that one good deed a day. _Grimmjow was still a bit undecided whether to interfere or not, when one of the standing figures spoke:

»Debts are meant to be payed, Ilforte. You're lucky you know. Kurosaki told us to go easy on you. He still prefers your money over your ugly mug becoming uglier.«

_Kurosaki? Wait, that's..._ Grimmjow's eyes widened a little and he stepped forward. He now recognized Shinji Hirako and Chad Yasotura, standing over pretty beaten and bloody Ilforte. The three still hadn't noticed him yet and he saw Shinji kneel down on one knee to take a better look at Ilforte's face.

»What do you think, Shin? Did he get the message?« Chad wiped his palms in black cargo pants he was wearing , then rubbed his ankles and looked expectantly at the shorter man.

Shinji just smiled widely, pinched Ilforte's chin and slowly moved his head from left to right to examine the extent of damage inflicted. »I don't know, Chibi. Tell me, darling...« Shinji was now talking to the bloody mess that was Ilforte. »Just how much is your face worth to you? I guess less than eight-thousand yen you owe Kurosaki.«

»Fuck you!« spat Ilforte and Shinji just let out a high-pitched laugh.

»You are in no state for making such promises, little worm. I guess I could make my Chibichad here stand down but that would just be meddling... and I can't butt in a fight without risking my champ position, you know? Shall we see what happens when I back off?« Shinji accentuated every word as if he was talking to a half-wit.

»Nothing will happen, Hirako.«

All three heads jerked into his direction as Grimmjow slowly approached them. Ilforte looked as if he saw an angel of salvation and wanted to crawl away from Shinji, but as soon as he moved a slim hand smash-hit the wall in front of him and made him stop. Shinji gracefully rose and faced the newcomer. He narrowed his eyes and Grimmjow tensed a little. _Holy shit he looks evil, if I survive this i'm calling an exorcist on him... _Of course Grimmjow could count on his moronic mind to start smartassing instead of solving the obvious conflict.

»My, my, Chad. Is it Christmas already? I guess we can relieve this world from two pests, not just one...«

Grimmjow was now on full alert. _Goddammit, now it's really on. He'll chew my ass off for running my mouth in class._

Chad watched them intently for a moment, then moved himself to Shinji's side. »I don't think that is a good idea, Shin.«

Grimmjow's eyes flickered to the giant in surprise but quickly returned to Shinji, only to catch him gaping-mouthed and fully focused on Chad. »Oh _come on_! At least let me take this one, you will vouch that he attacked me first, won't you, Chibi?«

Chad just shook his head and wanted to answer, but Grimmjow had enough.

»Listen you two, while you bitch around whether to kill me or not, can I at least take a look at Ilforte?«

He put his hands into his shorts' pockets and moved towards the beaten boy, who was still sitting and leaning against the wall, his face and clothes a total mess. Leaning over Ilforte, Grimmjow asked: »How much does he owe you exactly?«

Shinji looked ready to strangle him with his bare hands but Chad stopped him by putting his hand on Blondie's shoulder.

»Eight thousand plus ten percent.«

Grimmjow shook his head. »Damn Ilforte, that better have been one hell of a good reason to mess with these guys.«

»An essay.«

»_What_?«

Shinji smirked. »The little bitch paid for an essay.«

»You shitting me. Is he _shitting me_?« Grimmjow couldn't believe his ears when Ilforte mumbled an embarrased 'no'.

»Do you realise you gave 'retarded' a whole new meaning?« While pondering on whether or not he should leave Ilforte to his fate with those two, Grimmjow took the wallet from his pocket. _Be glad that I'm a spoiled brat with a disgracefully high allowance. _Taking out one ten-thousand yen bill, he approached Chad and shoved it into his hand.

»There you go, take this to Kurosaki and let this pathetic moron go. I know it's none of my fucking business but I really think he's too stupid to be worth jail-time. And keep the change.«

Chad's serious face suddenly became amused. »Damn, man... Kurosaki is going to flip when he hears this.«

Grimmjow crooked a smile: »Then tell the Berryhead I said hi.« With that he turned away, went to pick up his almost forgotten sportsbag and finally headed home.

+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+

**Berry and Grimmjow, sittin' on a tree... **

**then one falls off and makes space for a whole new birdie. **

**_Nicht gut begging for reviews but I will anyway... pretty please review:)_  
**


	3. Lead role

_Stormy, stormy outside, I like. _

_About this chapter... well, I'm sorry if it seems a bit random but that's just how high school was for me. Have to stick with what I know. _

_Wish we had Grimmy in high school. _

_+x+x+x+x+x+x+  
_

"My god, It's been only a week and I'm flooded! Ukitake-sensei rejected both of my reports! Both!" A brown-haired boy with a funny ponytail on the top of his head looked devastated.

"Why is this only happenning to me? !" he exclaimed and looked around as if he expected consolation and support. His five friends and him were sitting on a small patch of grass not so far from Karakura High's schoolyard, their favourite place during lunchbreak. Two boys and three girls were already used to Rin's always-worry and always-drama attitude and just rolled their eyes at him.

One of them, a short boy with spiky white hair and ocean-blue eyes, turned to Rin: "Well, did you actually_ try _and write them yourself?"

Rin scowled. "It's not like I copied them you know. I just helped myself with some reliable internet sources. If Ukitake's so stuck up about it, why didn't he reject your reports, huh Tosh?"

A golden-eyed boy with scruffy raven-black hair snorted. _He better not be serious._ "Yes Tosh, why again?" He was munching on a straw of his just-emptied juice box and threw Toshiro a mischievious side-glance.

Toshiro arched his perfect white eyebrow and looked at him: "Becouse, Ggio, I'm not stupid enough to copy-paste parts of Ukitake-sensei's published works, rearrange them a bit and try to pass them as my own work."

Ggio laughed out loud. _Buuuurn! _Then he cleared his throat and added solemnly: "Isn't repetition the highest form of flattery?"

Toshiro just looked annoyed. "Yup, and uncredited repetition is a form of felony but hey, as long as one doesn't have to use brain..."

Rin was now scowling at both of them and one of the girls he was sitting next to elbowed him.

"Such a long face, Rin. Don't let Uki-sensei get to you, I'm sure if you copy him enough he'll just give up someday and pass you on the grounds of determination."

"Gee Menoly, dripping sarcasm much?"

The green-eyed blonde laughed and high-fived Ggio. "But it's fun! You're such a drama queen..."

"King!"

Now everybody was roaring in laughter as Rin just looked around feeling a little confused. "What? !"

"Oh my... My... Rin... just stop... it hurts..."

When they finally started breathing again, the girl with brown eyes and her black hair tied together in a bun turned to Ggio. "How did your reports go?"

_Damn... That's embarrassing..._ Ggio shifted nervously and looked down, a small blush forming on his cheeks.

"Not too good. I was hoping for a B but only got C+ for both. Maybe I should get me a tu..." He was abruptly interrupted as the three girls in their circle focused on something behind him and started squealing:

"Shut up! Oh my god... _ohmygod... ohmygodohmygod_..."

"Here they are!"

"They're sooooo hot..."

"Dibs on the redhead, he's soooo cute..."

Both Hinamori and Loly scowled at Menoly.

"Then I take Nnoitra, he just looks so dangerous..."

Ggio turned around and narrowed his eyes at the notorious group to take a better look. _Doh, they're just a bunch of posers... Haaaaaaaaa! I got the same Vans as Kurosaki!"_

He watched as the group sat in their usual spot, ignoring all the attention they got from other students.

"I wish I was that popular... they probably have a bunch of servants who are willing to write their homework.."

_Again, Rin doesn't disappoint with stupidity._ Nevertheless, Ggio chuckled and turned back to his friends. Loly, the girl who claimed Nnoitra, who was also leaning forward and giving the group her full attention, spat: "You are as dumb as it gets, Rin. They have Kurosaki Ichigo for that, it is said that he is so smart he once wrote eight different essays in japanese, english and spanish in one night!"

Rin just looked around. "That's impossible!"

"No it's not. He is the smart one, then there's Chad Yasotura, who is so strong he once took on a gang of at least twenty and won! And they had guns!"

Hinamori, the girl with the bun, joined the conversation. "Yes, and I heard that they together singlehandedly made the last headmaster leave by posting some very explicit pictures on some site but it was quickly shut down..."

"No wait, it was those other two who did that, what are their names again?" Menoly bumped her forehead with her fist and desperately tried to remember.

Loly just focused back on the infamous group and shot: "Starrk Coyote and Shirosaki. They're both on college now and said to be extreme brainiacs."

Ggio was almost gaping at his dark-haired friend, who was now leaning back and fixing her two pigtails. "Shirosaki. What, no last name?"

Loly looked at him in annoyance: "Of course not! That's not even his real name, it is supposed to be his hacker identity so nobody would know who he is in real life."

Ggio shaked his head in disbelief. "How the hell do you know all that?" Somewhere in his mind he knew that Loly's facts were probably as fake as her eyelashes but this was all too exciting for him to ruin it with a simple thing called reality.

Loly just shrugged and smiled enigmatically: "I make it my business to know."

Ggio now switched places with Menoly to have a better look at the group. Just as he wanted to ask more, he noticed Kurosaki stand up and move away from the group. Ggio peeked a little just to see him head towards another grass lot, where two boys were sitting. _What is it today, a frickin' fashion show? !_ Ggio's eyes moved from one boy to another and he just couldn't decide which one stands out the most. One of _probably?_ seniors had this long crimson-like hair and black tattoos all-over his face and neck and looked tottally badass and the other...

Ggio gulped, then slowly leaned towards Loly and whispered: "Who _the hell_ is that?"

Loly smirked and sighed. "That, my dear Vega, is Grimmjow 'the panther' Jaegerjacquez, the newest addition."

_Well, that's a mouthful... _"Sooo, what's with his hair?"

Loly elbowed him, but before she could answer, Hinamori jumped in: "All natural! I've seen his blue-haired mother on TV giving an interview once, ever heard of _Garganta inc._? His parents own it! And he is also a star athlete, running long-distance. That's why 'the panther' nickname stuck."

_'The panther'? Really? Is it a crime to be creative this days?_ Ggio thought when Loly and Menoly just sighed in unison. Then the blonde took a deep breath and added: "Dreamy, sexy, rich... but I heard something else too..."

Ggio was now past the point where he should care about whether they talked facts or gossip, he just wanted to know more.

"I heard he's a bit unstable... I heard that just a week ago, somebody got beaten into a coma."

"Noooo, not a coma! But he was beaten pretty badly... And he didn't do it himself! I heard that there was also that pro-at-kendo Shinji Hirako!" Hinamori looked a bit uncertain but continued: " But that's impossible since they would ban him from any championships and clubs and he obviously still competes..."

Loly nodded seriously. "That's true, although I also heard that there were more of them... Well my source told me that they didn't beat the guy, they just chopped off one of his fingers and the blunette made him eat it..."

Toshiro was just finishing off his sandwich and he frowned in disgust: "Gee, Loly, thank you so much for the image..."

Loly raised her head high and shook her pigtails. "Just stating the facts, Hisugaya."

Toshiro snorted and put away the remains of his lunch while muttering quietly: "You have a very loose definition of facts I see."

_He just hates gossip, weird Toshiro._ Ggio focused his golden eyes back on the blue-haired senior. _Damn, I wish I was that ripped. And tall. And rich... And se... wait, what?_

Ggio's thoughts froze for a second but he quickly dismissed them as _'brain being stupid again_'. Loly, Menoly and Hinamori continued rambling about other gang-members and were actually betting on Loly to kiss either Nnoitra or Grimmjow by the end of the year.

_Pf, yeah right. Like Grimmjow would kiss a junior like you. He is probably dating models and such, not little first-years like us... OK what the hell? !  
_

Ggio violently shook his head. He shifted a little to find himself a more comfortable position to stare at the fascinating blue-haired senior, who was now laughing at something Kurosaki apparently said. They seemed engrossed in the conversation and Ggio vaguely wondered what topic keeps them so entertained. _It must be something cool... or even better... illegal... Damn, I sound just like Loly._

Kurosaki now rose to his feet and returned to his friends. While he was walking away, the tattooed boy leaned closer to Grimmjow and muttered something that made Grimmjow smirk and tilt his head on the side a bit, his eyes never leaving Kurosaki.

_They really must be close if Jaegerjacquez survives a check-out THAT obvious... oh, wait! The blonde looks ready to commit murder, maybe he's jelous of Grimmjow becouse he's secretly in love with Kurosaki... _Ggio couldn't help but giggle at the idea, which earned him a creeped-out look from Loly, Menoly and Toshiro.

"Ggio what the hell was that?"

_Not good, NOT good, panicking..._ "Er... nothing, I just remembered something... OH there's the bell, I think we should get going!" With all-too-much enthusiasm Ggio stood up and headed towards the entrance.

+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+

The girls fell a bit behind while the boys found their way to class. 1-A has been their classroom for the last week and Ggio kind of liked it. It had one huge window that streched across the whole length of the classroom wall and offered a wonderful view on the schoolyard, so he wasted no time taking a space right next to it.

He put his biology textbook on a table and absentmindedly flipped through the pages while still pondering a little on what he was told about the far-famed group_.Nah, all that stuff from Loly is probably just a bunch of crap but still... it must be exciting to be so popular. I would try that. What if I was older... like, a senior... _Ggio faintly noticed Loly, Menoly and Hinamori entering the classroom, giggling and whispering and acting like fifteen-year-olds they were. _Whatever, they are probably still obsessing about Kurosaki or Nnoitra... so, where was I? Right, me being senior and being one of them and... well, I would like a cool nickname, but Grimm and Hirako would probably just call me Vega. No, wait. That would be Kurosaki. I'm sure Grimm would invent me a cool nick and beat up everybody else who wanted to use it becouse it would be our special inside-joke. Yes, we would be like, BFFs... Maybe get a matching tattoo. I mean, ouch, yes, but he would be there for me,or no, better, he would be in pain but would hold on becouse he would know I'm there for him... I wonder if Grimm has any tattoos... oh and we would go to clubs together and I would look sooooo much bigger, just like him, but still myself and would wear this badass leather jackets and had my lip pierced and..._

The phone in his pocket buzzed and Ggio was abruptly taken out of his imaginary world. Feeling a bit aggravated at the disturbance and still not fully focused on the real world he took it out only to find a new SMS from Loly

_'Sry to interrupt G, wanna see sth cute? :3'_

Ggio carefully turned around while Soi Fon-sensei wasn't looking, being preoccupied with drawing a detailed plant versus animal cell-structure on the blackboard. The girls sat in the back and Menoly and Hinamori were stooped for some reason, focusing on something under the tables, while Loly was just smirking and looking expectantly at Ggio.

_'Wanna c?'_

Ggio's eyes sparkled as he shot back a perfect-white grin. _'Not rly sure...'_

_'U no fun:)'_

_Pf, whatever... 'Ok ok:)... what is it?'_

_'Turn around!'_

Ggio looked at Loly again and saw her grab something from Hinamori's lap. Then she quickly glanced to the front where Soi Fon-sensei was still scribbling around the sketch.

After making completely sure that nobody was paying attention to her, she turned to Ggio and lifted the thing just above the desk for him to see.

_ Oh. My. God. Are they for real? Wh... Where the HELL did they find THAT?_ He just stared increduously as two bluish kitty eyes winked back at him.

Loly shifted a little and grabbed her phone_. 'Hine found her at the entrance... soo cute and grey and fluffy, we couldn't leave her :3' _

_Her? _

_'/me stroking right now. What if somebody misses her?' OK, I guess it's her then..._

_'Turn!'_

Loly gently held the cat's paw with her fingers and was making quick up-and-down movements so the cat looked like she's waving to Ggio.

Menoly was barely containing her laughter and Hinamori's shoulders were shaking violently as she tried to keep from falling off the chair.

Ggio quickly averted his gaze to keep his cool but failed miserably and snorted, but just then the cat was apparently fed up with all Loly's shenanigans and let out a loud 'meow'. Then she hissed at the girl and Loly was taken aback for a second, which was apparently enough for the cat to jump away from her and run towards the professor's desk. _Shit, no, this is bad..._ Ggio jumped away from his desk and grabbed the cat as it passed him, holding her tightly against his chest. The commotion brought the attention of some of his schoolmates and some chuckled at the spectacle, while Ggio was trying desperately to shove the little creature under his hoodie. _Stay still, dammit... oh_ _thank god, crisis aver..._

"What is THAT! ?" A loud furious voice startled him. He winced and jumped almost enough to drop the little animal, but he held on to it tightly as he slowly opened his eyes. A short and thin woman with black hair, tied together in two thin braids, was looking at him so wrathfully that made Ggio shudder. "It's ah... uhh..."

"You idiot! I know what it is! What on earth is it doing in MY classroom?"

_Oh my, ohmymymy I'm probably getting expelled for this, DAMN LOLY..._

"Soi Fon-sensei, it wasn't his..."

"Enough!" her uncompromising dark eyes shone with anger and disapproval. "I've had it with you, juniors! You think you are all-grown up and rebellious and act all disrespectful to anyone who comes near you..." _Whoa, where did that come from..._

"But Soi Fon- sensei, it's not his fau..." Loly just looked miserable.

"I said enough! You..." the professor now turned to Ggio. "Get this animal outside in this instant, then go directly to the headmaster's office!"

Then she turned on her heel and quietly muttered something like 'I'll let him deal with you... little shits..."

The boy was still confused and terrified to the bone when he was walking towards the headmaster's office.

_How the hell did this happen? ! One minute I was in class like a normal junior and now I'm headed for the punishment, probably expulsion... Damn women, they are as good as frenemies get... _

Wondering why he was still holding on to a cat he sat down next to the headmaster's office door and tried to gather some courage to knock. He sighed sheepishly and scrached the cat's chin. _Yes you little bastard, you just keep on purring like nothing is going on... You really have no idea in what kind of trouble you got me, right?_

He kept on petting the little animal and whispered quietly: "You are one cute little thing you know. I wish I could take you home but... damn, after this? I'm not even sure my parents will let _me_ stay home dammit, dammit..." He was now completely engrossed in the cat's gray fur and blue eyes that appeared a bit large for an animal that small. He kept on stroking her soft back. The kitty just kept on purring and it relaxed him just enough to miss the footsteps closing in down the hall.

A large hand suddenly reached for the cat's head and scrached her behind the ears. If that was even possible, the kitty started to purr even louder and streched like a spoiled animal it was.

The man who the hand belonged to, crouched in front of Ggio while gently ruffling the cat's fur with his fingers. "That's one cute beast you've got here."

Ggio looked up to see who that low and husky voice belonged to. He was again taken a little aback, staring into another set of mesmerisingly blue eyes. "Ugh... N-no... it's not..." _Oh my goooooooooood, are you kidding me? It's HIM, Grimmjow, ohmy ohmy... ok, play cool._

He cleared his throat. "It's not mine, some of the classmates thought it would be funny to bring it to biology class." The man grinned widely and Ggio couldn't help but notice his insanely sharp canines. _A beast indeed, just not the one in my lap... oh dear. _

"Biology, huh. I take it BakaSoiFon doesn't like unannounced attendance..."

Ggio giggled out loud. _Again, dammit!_ He blushed immediately. _Giggles? Really? Oh can I just do me a favor and trip through the window... Stop looking at me you idiot._

Grimmjow just kept on staring at his all blushed and embarrassed face and crooked a smile. "You should take it home. This is way too cute to be left a stray."

Ggio slowly shaked his head. "I'm at the headmaster's. When my old man finds out, I'm probably expelled and homeless."

Grimmjow now laughed out loud. "For this? Not happening kid." He stood up - _Dear god he's tall..._- and sat low in the opposite chair, one ankle on the other leg's knee.

"'sides, even if you are, someone would surely take you in. You are also way too cute to be a stray," he added with what looked like a vicious smile and a wink.

_What?_

Ggio could not even begin to find the right words as he was interrupted by the arrival of another two seniors. Shinji and Chad sat down on Grimmjow's left, Chad just nodding to Grimmjow in aknowledgment and Shinji just intentionally ignoring him.

Then the seconds started dragging, as they sat in quiet.

Ggio felt like the air in the hallway got ten times thicker and the tension was almost unbearable, as he was almost afraid to move.

_Tick... tock... tick... tock..._ The simple plastic clock's sound was the only thing that could be heard in the hallway as even the cat picked up some of the somber atmosphere and stopped purring. _Tick... Tock... _

"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU HERE? !" Shinji's voice made Ggio jump on his seat again and for the second time that day he almost let out a squeal.

He was hoping the blonde wasn't talking to him for some reason. When he dared to open his eyes, he actually let out a relieved sigh as the blonde was looking at that blue-haired masterpiece_. Blue-haired what again? ! Ok blame it on heart palpitations..._

Grimmjow just shrugged. "Don't know, for the sexy factor?"

Shinji gritted his teeth: "You sure know how to run your mouth, smurfy. Tell me, what will happen to your ass when Kurosaki drops it?"

"Ew, Hirako please, get your own sex life to analyze..."

Ggio wanted to chuckle but surely knew better, as Shinji looked ready to rip and murder. Another set of footsteps was heard down the hall and the expressions on the seniors' faces mostly stayed blank, while Ggio's was absolutely and utterly terrified.

The tall man with long black hair and cold grey eyes looked at the seniors: "Hirako-kun, Yasotura-kun, Jaegerjacquez-kun, into my office... And who are you?" The man was almost as tall as Grimmjow but had a presence of a giant. Ggio felt like he was suffocating under the stern gaze.

"G-Ggio Vega, Kuchiki-sama. I-I..." Headmaster Kuchiki stayed silent, as if expecting a more eloquent explanation. Ggio took a breath and waited for the verdict. _I'm so out and I haven't even pulled nothing yet... damn, this just sucks..._

"I take you were sent here becouse either you brought the cat or you did something to the cat, correct?" Ggio's golden eyes flickered to the authority in front of him and he wondered what would happen if he just told the truth. That he had nothing to do with it. That _it was all Loly's fault, damn her..._ In the corner of his eyes he caught a glimpse of bright blue, looking at him curiously. _But.. what would he think of me if... if I start making excuses... well no, of course that wouldn't be manly and grown-up..._

"I would prefer an answer today, if it is convenient for you."

Ggio shuddered. _Man, it's like pouring icy water down your back..._ "Y-yes sir, I mean... I brought it to school... I thought, you know... since we had biology... That bak... I mean, Soi Fon-sensei, won't mind since, you know... it's biology..."

Somewhere in the back of the mess that was his mind, Ggio heard a low chuckle and a foreign snort. _I'm glad my pending expulsion is funny at least to some..._

The headmaster just looked at him. "So... why are you here then?" Ggio risked a glance in Grimmjow's direction and wondered just how can one person grin that widely and still look... _Oh well, he's kinda good-looking OK, I'm just noticing it from... well, it's just a question of esthetics... right?_

"WELL?" Ggio jumped and focused back on the headmaster, his heart doing overtime again.

"I-I'm sorry, Kuchiki-sama, I mean... Well.. Soi Fon-sensei apparently did mind..." Now the three behind the headmaster covered their mouths and worked their best to win the struggle of not letting out a single laugh.

"Can you take the cat outside?"

Ggio widened his eyes at the older man: "Yes, Kuchiki-sama. So does that..."

"I don't have time for petty misbehaviour although I urge you to refrain from such incidents in the future. Now, if you'll excuse me, Vega-kun, I have some serous issues to attend."

Ggio still stared in awe and was desperately trying to comprehend the fact that he wasn't even scolded, much less expelled. He now looked down at the little kitten in his lap and was surprised that in the middle of all the drama, she was able to fall asleep. He grabbed his bag and just wanted to head outside, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait." _Again, that voice..._ He looked up and was met with a gentle smile and eyes of sparkling sea. He almost whimpered and his knees were getting weaker by the second. "Y-yes..."

"What do you plan to do with the little one?"

Ggio just stared, as he was standing way too close to Grimmjow for his comfort_. Damn... so now I become officially one of the squealing fangirls? Damn... I'll have to put this hero-worship under control..._ "Uh... I don't know..."

"Well, can you hold on to her for me for another hour or so? I'd like to take her home." Grimmjow's hand once again reached for the cat as he scratched its chin. Ggio almost forgot how to breathe when he caught Grimmjow's scent... _Freshly washed clothes, just a faint scent of cologne and... OK OK STOP, thoughts evacuation in process, I'm remembering this only so I can feed our girls all the details... yes, that's it._

Grimmjow raised one eyebrow at him. "Soo...?"

Ggio shook his head violently and looked back into those now serious eyes. "Sorry I can't... but I'll leave her at the janitor's if that's alright with you?"

The older boy ruffled Ggio's hair and Ggio was now as close to a major nosebleed as he ever was. "Thanks, junior."

"Jaegerjacquez-kun, do you need a written invitation to get _the hell_ into my office?"

Grimmjow smiled and winked at Ggio. "Bye, kid. Wish me luck, I'm in shit as deep as it gets." Then he turned and closed the headmaster's office door behind him.

+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+

»OK Ggio I was extremely sorry for what happenned in biology but now... Oh dear, I'm sooooo jelous! What, what! We want all the details!« Loly, Menoly, Hinamori and Rin were bombing him with questions and once, for a change, even Toshiro looked interested.

»Well, it all started with him liking the cat and...«

»NOOO! You're telling it wrong! I want to know everything, do you HEAR ME? ! What was he wearing, how did he smell, is his skin just as perfect as it looks from far, how exactly did he move...!«

Ggio sighed. It was the day after his visit at the headmaster's and they started the school with a two-hour gym period. _Damn testing, it annoys the hell out of me just thinking about it... _He wasn't very pleased when their gym teacher told them to meet at the stadium for some all-junior annual capacity testing. Pushing the thought away, he focused back on his starry-eyed schoolmates.

»Well, at first I was just... a little surprised...«

Menoly grabbed his shoulders and shook him: »Oh who cares about you, dammit... How close was he?«

»Well, pretty close I guess...«

All three girls just sighed in unison.

»How I wish I told Soi Fon that it was me who brought the cat...« Hinamori looked dazed by the thought.

_Well, yeah, now that you know the outcome... _»Well, he kind of wanted to keep the cat so I left her at the janitor's. Who knows if he really took her home.«

That bought him just a split second of silence, and then Hinamori and Loly just threw themselves into the topic:

»Ohmymymy he likes cats, he's like, soooo a cat person!«

»Yesss, just like us!«

Ggio was now checking his ears for blood as this girl-shrieking was slowly becoming unbearable.

It was Toshiro who tugged on the sleeve of his dark green t-shirt. »But how did he decide to take a cat home? I mean, didn't you tell the headmaster it was yours?«

Ggio pinched his nose. »Yeah, I don't know really. One moment I was telling Kuchiki-sama about the cat and, well, he commented before that I should take it, but I told him my parents will probably throw me out...« _Oh, yes, that was stupid. _

The girls were also listening now and drinking in every word. »... and... umm... Oh, yes, he commented that she's too cute to be a stray, just like me or something...« _Wait. Waitwaitwait! WHAT DID... oh. Noooo... he was just teasing me. Jerk. _

As if answering his thoughts, dead silence met him.

»... he said _what_?«

_All _of his friends stopped still. Ggio shifted uncomfortably and urged them to continue.

»Come on, we're gonna be late... and it's not like he meant it you know, I probably just didn't hear right.«

»Yeah, you probably didn't.«

They walked in silence until they joined a large group of junior-years that were gradually gathering on the field in the middle of the running tracks.

»Oy, listen up juniors!« a man larger than a planet appeared in front of the crowd and demanded their immediate attention. »I'm coach Yammy and these are coach Tier Harribel and Tetsuzaemon Iba. We will supervise today's testing process. You will run a sixty and a six-hundred, and if we'll have time to spare, also something longer.«

Ggio paled a little. It's not like he was out of shape, he liked sports, especially something like beach-volley or two-on-two basketball, as long as it was fun. _But this... my, it just sounds like the first phase of creating an army... _

Coach Yammy continued explaining the alphabetical ranking and Ggio was now assigned to a so-called _'group C'._

_Damn, it sounds suspiciously like my semester report... _With a frown he turned back to Yammy, as he still continued sorting them like little chicken.

»As we are short of staff at the moment, we also asked some seniors to volunteer and since nobody _actually _volunteered, we assigned some of them for help. Group A...«

Ggio was now shifting uncomfortably. _Damn, what's with them and this military training, am I supposed to start taking gym seriously now? _

»... and finally, group C- Grimmjow Jaegerjacquez.«

_Are you SHITTING ME? !  
_

Ggio stared in awe as the tall blue-haired senior waved the group to follow him.

»Oy, don't just stand there, we haven't got all day!« _Well aren't we cranky... _Ggio thought, as he followed the others. He even had time to notice that seniors, who were 'volunteering', were not equipped for training and were wearing their street clothes. _That would probably go unnoticed but damn he looks good in that gray short sleeved shirt and a loose tie. It's probably his strong wide shoulders and muscular, sooooo muscular arms... woops, envious much? Here goes the hero worship again... _Ggio quickly dismissed his thoughts.

»Alright, pairings for sixty. In the order you are called, you run. It's not rocket science...« Ggio watched Grimmjow sigh and couldn't help but notice just how annoyed he is. _Maybe something happenned at the headmaster's office, I hope nothing too serious..._

Grimmjow moved to the finish line with some papers and a stopwatch, when he called out the first pairing.

Ggio knew that he'll probably be called in the end, so he sat down and watched other juniors sprint, ones more, others less successful. As the names kept on rolling, he was gradually getting more and more nervous. _What if I make a fool of myself, what if I fall... dammit, why does it have to be Grimmjow... _And then it dawned on him. _It's him I want to impress, it would be wonderful if I had this really awesome timing and then he would praise me in front of everybody and even ask me if I would join him in his trainig... Yup, that would be so cool... Then I would be cool...Maybe he'd name the cat after me... _

»Schiffer, Vega!«

Ggio's eyes flinched upwards at the senior, who was looking down at the list and writing something. He stood up and moved to the start line, only to notice his competition. It was a short pale boy with jet-black hair and huge green eyes, that was skillfully positioned and already waited for Grimmjow to give order. Ggio shifted nervously as he really didn't know whether to repeat after the boy or just stand there and wait. He was still pondering the decision, when he saw Grimmjow raise his hand, still looking down on the papers. _He really doesn't give a damn about all this, does he..._

»Get set, go!«

Grimmjow's arm dropped and the green-eyed boy sprang forward. Ggio was so surprised at the speed that he almost forgot to run. When he finally moved he already lost precious moments and there was no way he would be able to beat the other junior. _Should at least keep my timing a little dignifying..._He sprang forward as fast as he could, extremely determined to keep up for the lost startup. _Damn that finish line, sixty seems so short and now it just won't end... why is he looking at the papers... close, just a little faster... come on, look up... _Ggio passed the finish line and heard a small 'beep' of the stopwatch as it indicated his timing to the senior, that beautiful senior who lifted his blue eyes in that exact moment and cought Ggio's gaze.

It took him whole two seconds to forget how to run, walk or even breathe and Ggio tripped.

_No._

_This is not happenning. _

_Ouch._

He wanted to lift himself up but was too embarassed to show his face to anyone.

_Can I just disappear, like, now? _

He heard the Schiffer boy snicker and some other juniors laughed out loud. _So, I'll probably need my parent's consent for this but if I bring home all the papers I need for transfering and even pick a school with lower or no tuition..._

»Hey kid, need help?«

_Nooooooooooo. _»Umm...« _Damn, he noticed._

»You hurt or something?« Grimmjow approached and looked at him questioningly. Ggio clumsily climbed to his feet and shook his head.

»N-no... I'm fine...«

A spark of recognition suddenly shined in blue eyes. »Hey, the kid with the cat, right?«

Ggio's eyes bulged and he nodded enthusiastically: »Yes, that's me... So, um,.. how...«

»How is she? A terrible fucking pest that scratched my couch into oblivion, but thanks for asking.«

Ggio smirked, imagining Grimmjow catching the cat around the house and trying to prevent further damage. »Did you name her yet?«

Grimmjow grinned –_for the first time today, _Ggio didn't miss that detail – and picked up the stack of papers and the stopwatch. »Uh-huh, she's Nel now. After my cousin.«

Ggio looked puzzled as he followed him back to the group.

»Why your cousin?«

Grimmjow narrowed his eyes at him: »What, you wanna be a cop someday?«

»No! I'm sorry, I didn't want to be nosy and...« _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

»Stop it kid, I'm just messing with you. I named her after Neliel becouse they are both vicious beasts with monstrous claws and an attitude problem but still too cute for their own good.«

Now Ggio laughed out loud, still a little shocked that one of the _cool_ ones actually talked to him like a human being and barely noticing that Grimmjow didn't laugh at his clumsiness. _Maybe those transfer forms can wait a little longer. _

He moved away from the senior as he was now busy with putting away the papers.

Just when the group was getting ready to start the six-hundred run, a loud voice boomed over the stadium:»Announcement! Everyone, come closer!«

Coach Yammy was waving his hands for everyone to approach. »Pay attention now, Soi Fon-san has something to say!«

The groups slowly started gathering around the coach but Ggio took his time, seeing that Grimmjow still had no intention to move away from the forms. He noticed his slightly furrowed eyebrows and dwelled on the fact that he was usually much more cheerful than today. Just as he wanted to gather courage and go talk to him again, the red-haired tattooed senior, who was apparently part of assigned-help too, approached Grimmjow and put his hand on the blue-haired boy's shoulder.

»Come on, it can't be _that_ bad...«

Grimmjow snorted. »You have no fucking idea, Ren. The shit before was cretenic but this one is just lame. Fucking shithead, he'll pay hell for this...«

Renji sighed and bit his lip. »Shit man, don't. Don't make him a fucking martyr or something.«

»Don't you understand? His ass has already written 'martyr' all over, I just want to give him a real fucking reason for that... _Can I help you?_«

Ggio flinched. He didn't even notice when he started eavesdropping and Grimmjow was now staring right at him. _Shitshitshitshitshit! _he quickly mumbled an apology and ran away to the crowd, terrified by the look the blue-haired senior gave him.

It took him some time to overcome what just happenned and he tried to focus on the group of teachers, standing in front of the crowd.

All of the students stopped talking under the stern gaze that coach Yummy was giving them and when everyone's attention was on him, he moved aside.

The teacher who apparently hated cats stepped from behind the coach and continued with her head high: »As headmaster's first assistant I am required to inform you that there will be a meeting held in the main lecture hall and all your presence is absolutelly obligatory. The meeting will be held after the lunch break. Make sure to be there. Thank you.« And then she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving behind a puzzled audience.

+x+x+x+x+x+x+

»Do you _ever_ miss a chance to make a fool out of yourself?« Loly was munching on a cracker and pointed her slim finger to Ggio. They were supposed to have lunch but Ggio has lost his appetite remembering how really pissed-off Grimmjow was at him. _No, not really._

»Well, at least there's a good side for everything you know, now that you completely embarassed yourself there's a fine, fine chance for me. The bet is still on.«

Toshiro smirked at the statement. »Loly, that's wrong and presumptious on so many levels I won't even start describing it.«

Loly stucked out her cracker-crumbed tongue. »Suit yourself. As I said, the bet is still on.«

Ggio was still awfully quiet as the bell announced the end of lunch break.

»And the main lecture hall is where exactly?« asked Rin while putting away the remains of his lunch.

Of course Toshiro knew exactly where to go and the others followed him inside.

The lecture hall consisted of several amphitheatrical rows of chairs and was spacious enough to take in almost all the students of Karakura high.

Ggio and his friends took their seats somewhere in the middle as the back rows seemed like they were reserved for seniors. The muffled chatter indicated that nothing was yet going on and Ggio turned around to take a better look at the back rows. He tried to pack it in reasoning that he is just checking out the hall but in the back of his mind he knew that there is a certain someone he's looking for.

_Ah, there they are. He still looks bothered, I wonder if it has something to do with what him and the redhead were talking about before..._

Ggio just kept on watching and noticed another redhead, who approached Grimmjow and sat down next to him. _Kurosaki, of course. _Ggio felt a slight sting of jelousy. _I wish I could sit there next to him, talking to him like Kurosaki now. Yup, I wish it was me, leaning that close to him, putting my hand around his shoulders and what, trying to comfort him maybe? _He narrowed his eyes at the two. _What are... OK at least he crooked a smile now, turned to Kurosaki and now I cannot see his f... Why THE HELL did Kurosaki just peck his nose? !« _Ggio abruptly turned forward, his face flushed and his mind scattered all over the place. _Wh... what..._

Then he registered a commotion in the front of the hall and realised the headmaster just walked in.

+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+

_Damn him... damn this fucker straight to hell. I fucking saved his ugly ass. _

Grimmjow's eyes lingered on his blonde schoolmate, sitting in the first row of the lecture hall. He knew exactly why the meeting was held and it was all becouse the blonde bitch couldn't take a few punches for his stupidity. _Nooo, he had to run directly to his mommy and daddy and of course they had to protect their beloved fucker of a son. Even the chief of police department is here, that little shit made himself look like a fucking veteran of war. _Somewhere in the back of his mind Grimmjow knew that getting beaten up for a homework was a hell of an overreaction but if there was anything he hated more than the gang's attitude, it was chronic stupidity of some students, who seeked the gang's sometimes suspicious and often not very legal services. _Drugs, revenge, cheating, extortion... and then some petty ones like reports, homework, answers for every fucking test one can imagine. They offer it all. They take every job dead-serious. We all know what they do. And there are still some dumbasses who think they can outsmart them. _He sighed and rubbed a fist with his left hand. _Well fuck me if I'll go down becouse of a piece of crap like you, Grantz.«_

»Heh, why so gloomy?« _Speaking of the devil..._

»Do I need to answer that?«

Kurosaki sat down next to Grimmjow and smirked. »Of course not. I know that Ilforte sang like a little birdie down at the police station. He dragged you straight in with Chad and Shin, right?«

»Yeah, he didn't even have the audacity to tell the truth. Fuck, I could make him suck me off for that much money but hey, my bad or something.«

Kurosaki grinned and leaned towards Grimmjow, almost touching his shoulder. »Well, since that money is now in my pocket...« he slid a hand around Grimmjow's shoulders. »...does the offer still stand?«

Grimmjow's lips crooked a smile and he turned to face the redhead. _This one looks extremely fuckable today, maybe it's the glasses. He should wear them more often._ Arching his eyebrow, he mused: »What, expanding your service now?«

Kurosaki winked and planted a brief kiss on his nose. »For what I hear you've got going on down there, I just might.«

»You make me feel so special.« Grimmjow's grin was almost inhuman. »Tired of the baby-size over there?« He nodded his head in the direction of Kurosaki last-known boy-toy.

The redhead streched and leaned back, crossing his hands behind his head, then sticking his pierced tongue at Grimmjow again: »Nah, just tired of being a _seme_.«

That earned him one wide-eyed gaze as Grimmjow was taken aback for a second, but then a bustle at the front caught his attention.

_And here comes the queen bee. Alright, let's get this over with. _

The headmaster of Karakura high walked to the front.

»Greetings, everyone.«

The hall slowly quieted down and everyone looked expectantly at the stoic figure, that looked like he just walked out of some royal family tree.

»For those who are disciplined enough and don't know me yet, I...« _Oh how very subtle, you ass. _Grimmjow shifted uncomfortably as he was one of those who got acquainted with the headmaster already. _And a week before I'd never imagine being one of them. Yesterday changed that... _

He now stopped listening to the headmaster as he was now making a speech about how '_we all need to work together for this problem to end' and yada yada... Fuck you and fuck that little bitch at the front. _His mind now wandered back to the day before.

_'You all know why you are here, so let's just skip the part when I ask about your connections to a student named Ilforte Grantz.'_

_Headmaster Kuchiki was sitting behind his desk and made a brief note on a form in front of him. _

_Shinji was tapping his fingers on his knee and snorted:'Whatever he told you, he probably lied. Like he lied to Ukitake-sensei about a certain report...' Phase one, discreditation._

_Kuchiki just ignored him and continued: 'I also received a police report about the beating. The names of you three came out.'_

_The two boys glanced at Grimmjow, who was now scowling at the headmaster: 'What did it say?'_

_'Ilforte Grantz named you three as the culprits.'_

_Chad looked at the headmaster questioningly: 'All three of us, really? Did he want to impress somebody?' _

_Shinji snorted. 'Yeah, it really wouldn't take three of us. That is just too stupid to be true.' Phase two: insert doubt._

_The headmaster now focused completely on the three: 'These are some serious accusations and whether or not it is true, you are students of this school. I am required to take action. There's only one thing that has been bothering me in this report...' he now turned to face Grimmjow. 'A slight inconsistency about your doings, Jaegerjacquez-kun. The report says that you were passing by when you saw the beating, then there was a certain misunderstanding and you joined in?'_

_'It said WHAT? !' Grimmjow was now beyond angry. 'That little lying piece of...'_

_'Watch the language.'_

_Grimmjow was now gritting his teeth and could barely restrain himself. It took him a while but after a few deep breaths he calmed enough to ask: 'How the hell am I supposed to prove him wrong... I didn't touch him!'_

_Shinji smiled at the headmaster: 'Wouldn't you say that's a completely honest reaction, Kuchiki-sama?' Phase three: insert an element of innocence and build on it._

_The headmaster was looking intently at Grimmjow. 'Then let's presume that's true and make you a witness. What did you see when you came arount the corner of that alley?'_

_Chad now turned to Grimmjow too and added gently: 'Be honest, you don't have to lie for us.' Phase four: an illusion of true friendship that appeals to the interrogator's emotions._

_Grimmjow thought about lying just to discredit Ilforte even more, but then thought back to the events of that day. 'Well... um... honestly, Kuchiki-sama, what I saw was a bloody Ilforte and Chad and Shinji here, standing next to him.'_

_There were a few moments of complete silence, then headmaster asked: 'Were they hitting him?' _

_'Not that I saw... from my point of view it looked more like they were trying to help him, as Shinji here was actually kneeling down and checking out his injuries.'_

_Kuchiki raised his eyebrows a little. 'So there's his word against yours?'_

_Now Shinji leaned forward, looking dead-serious: 'If you allow me, Kuchiki-sama, just my quick two cents. Chichi and myself found Grantz-kun lying down in an alley. He refused to tell us who beat him up. When we tried to reason with him to go to the police, he started mumbling something about embarassment and disgrace and just crumbled down the wall. I kneeled becouse I know a thing or two about injuries thanks to my experience with kendo and I was afraid he might have a concussion. That's when Grimmy came along. We all wanted to help him, but Grantz-kun insisted we leave him alone and then walked away, telling us not to follow him. We didn't like that, but did respect his decision.' Phase five: Offer a plausible explanation._

_Kuchiki shook his head. 'I think that's all I need to know. I will call out a meeting soon and give my official statement of the issue, together with my decision of consequences then, if there will be any.'_

_Phase six: for the win!_

Back in the lecture hall, Grimmjow smirked at the memory. _There were some smooth moves you had, blondie. _He now tried to pay more attention to what the headmaster was saying and caught him mid-sentence: »...the light of recent events, I will now let you know my official decision about the three official police-investigation suspects: Shinji Hirako, Grimmjow Jaegerjacquez and Chad Yasotura.«

Grimmjow, Chad and Shinji briefly glanced at eachother, shifting nervously.

»I have no jurisdiction over how the police investigation shall evolve but for now, I was not presented with evidence hard enough for expulsion and I refuse to do so on the grounds of assumptions. Therefore Hirako, Jaegerjacquez and Yasotura will remain the students of this school. However, our main goal is to prevent such incidents in the future. We will make sure to add something else to your curriculum, and that is basic human interaction. The programme is still in a testing version and you can be sure it is not perfect but the implementation of it will be strictly supervised not only by the school board but also by the parent council in collaboration with police department. Make no mistake...« Kuchiki looked even more dead serious, if that was even possible. »...every breach of programme will be punished severely, so do your best at being human beings.«

There was some commotion in the front seats and Grimmjow slowly realised that there were small booklets distributed among the students. _Hell yeah, free easy reading..._he thought sarcastically as he was handed one himself.

The commanding voice of headmaster Kuchiki echoed through the hall: »The basic principle of the programme is to assign each of the junior students to one of the seniors. Since the seniors are lacking in numbers we also assigned some third-graders to take the rest. Your task, seniors, is to help them with anything school-related as well as helping them to settle, in short, to stop carrying yourselves aroud like useless peacocks and actually interact with younger generations. You better make yourselves busy and start behaving like adults you should be by now. As for the juniors, if there was anything wrong, you should report that immediately directly to me. Like I said before, the consequences for misbehaviour are severe. The booklets we distributed contain a detailed description and basic rules for you to follow. For those who still consider themselves human, there should not be any problem in understanding them.«

Grimmjow stared like an idiot. »We have to do _what_?«

Nnoitra and Kurosaki started laughing quietly: »Oh my god, they just changed us into underpaid nannys!«

The blue-haired boy slowly shook his head. _Are you fucking kidding me..._

He was yet again interrupted by the headmaster's voice: »The lists with assigned names will be out in a few days and if you'll have any problems finding out your assigned partner, you should ask my first assistant Soi Fon-san for information.«

The headmaster made a pause and the silence in the hall was deafening.

He then smirked a little and added: »Welcome to the Watchers programme.«

+x+x+x+x+x+x+

_I was in physical pain writing this. Had ideas for another story, struggled to overcome jelousy over El's badass Renji x Hisagi awesomeness, missing smut and nursing a hangover. Hey, nobody said this would be easy._

_Again... reviews?_


	4. Meet 'n' Greet

_A/N: Heh... (insert nervous laugh)... well, it's out. Another chapter. This a/n is stupid. Severely lacking caffeine._

_Disclaimer: BWAHAHA BLEACH IS MINE! ...but no, then I woke up and realised I'm still broke, so... no... I don't own... eh._

* * *

»So, wha'oes thi'mean exacwy?« Rin was chewing on his tuna sandwich and it didn't bother him even a little that he was talking with his mouth _so_ full, a few crumbles actually fell out and on his green and grey-striped shirt.

The group of friends were having lunch after school at their favourite fast-food restaurant and, while stuffing themselves with food, the conversation came around about the brochures they were given at the end of the meeting quite a while ago.

»It means, Rin, that they'll assign you a senior student to teach you how to _not_ speak with your mouth full.« Toshiro's eyebrows were furrowed in disgust as he tried to ignore his friend's lack of table manners and he turned to Ggio: »Did you read it?«

»Not really, I started at the introduction and almost bored myself to sleep.« Ggio licked the remains of ketchup off his fingers and grabbed a napkin to wipe his hands. »'Sides, I was kind of counting on you to explain what the deal with this 'programme' was.«

The three girls, who were unusually quiet, turned towards the bright-haired boy-genious and even Rin lifted his eyes from the music magazine he was trying to maneuver in his lap while simultaneously holding a huge, fish-reeking sandwich.

»Well...« Toshiro's expression turned pensive as he flipped through the shiny pages of the brochure, »... I did read the introduction and the goals. It's basically standard – the trial_, social experiment_ if you want, on how to erase or, sorry, lessen the gap between generations where there actually should be none, but it has appeared due to the transformation of society's values...«

»OK, stop right there Tosh!« Ggio waved his hands as if he was chasing away a particularly nasty bug from Toshiro's face. »Too many long words, now you sound just as boring as the brochure. Plain terms, please?«

The white-haired boy looked scandalized: »How much more plain should I put it? ! It's like, the school is now telling you who you hang out with!«

»Ah, now we're getting somewhere...« Ggio looked quite pleased with himself. It's not like he didn't understand Toshiro's explanation in the first place, he just loved to rile the boy-genious up, Toshiro was a smug little prick after all and always _oh-so smart_. They did bicker a lot but for what it was worth, Ggio considered the shorter male as best of a friend as he could, considering they only started to hang out more frequently in high school.

Right now, he was focused on those turquoise eyes that glared at him furiously. »I mean, really Tosh, if I wanted to read something that's dragging on and on and twisting every little sentence around until it meets the word count demands, I would just read Lord of the Rings..._again._« he added whispering.

If it was possible, Toshiro looked even more scandalized than before: »Are you bashing _Tolkien_, the author of the most brilliant book series _ever_? In front of _me_? _How dare you!_«

»Oh no... He's not bashing on him, he's just stating the fact.« Menoly joined the conversation and turned Toshiro's righteous fury towards herself. »I mean, come on, there's only so much one can say about the trees.«

»Trees? _TREES? _They were _Ents_, ancient beings that held more wisdom than you could ever dream of!«

Menoly sipped some of her strawberry juice and managed to look completely unfazed by the angry glare from across the table. »Ah, really then... so those were the guys who... umm... talked like... really slow or something?«

»_Ta-... _TALKED REALLY SLOW? ! More like _conversed with dignity and exactness _even I can't completely comprehend! Oh...« the white-haired boy sighed and slowly shook his head in exasperation, »why, _oh why _do I even bother.«

Ggio's eyes teared up as he was trying to hold in a heart-attack-serious laughing fit, while Menoly chewed on the plastic straw.

»Well, from my point of view, the only thing even remotely interesting in that book was the prince.«

Few seconds of silence met her, while she looked around the table, her expression questioning.

»Uhm, Menoly... what prince?«

The blonde girl snorted: »The prince that became a king! The one who married that weird elf-girl with a cute name!«

Loly now turned herself completely to her fair-haired friend. »Menoly, hate to break it to you, but... uhm...«

Toshiro's eyes sparkled with interest and even Ggio felt his need to laugh out loud lessen to a more bearable level, as they both expected some serious _you-remember-it-wrong-he-wasn't-a-prince-_comment.

»...but you have the most atrocious taste in men _ever_!«

Silence. And then Ggio erupted into laughter so intense, that in a matter of seconds he was clutching to his stomach, while trying to remember how to breathe: »Oh... sh... oh _my_... Loly! _Ha, ha, ha_, you are priceless...!«

»_Whaaaaat? !_« Loly raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow at the raven-haired boy that was still spasming with laughter and frowned. »I personally believe there was not one man in the movie that was hotter than that Lego-something elf!«

»Oi, yes! The one they met... uhm... where again?«

Loly grinned at Menoly: »_Legoland_, where else?«

»Oh Tolkien, give me strength...« Toshiro dramatically pulled on his hair and looked up towards the clear blue sky above them, squirming a little as the warm October sun made his eyes tear up a little. »Have _any_ of you trolls actually read the books? !«

Hinamori, who had been watching the interaction with amusement, winked at the smirking Loly and still-unfazed Menoly, then stated: »What... there's a book?«

A sharp intake of breath, some seemingly endless calming techniques and a promise of another lemon slurpie later, Toshiro appeared calm enough to stay at the table and be willing to speak with the girl, although reluctantly, as he was still holding the grudge against the entire table, especially after Rin had to take over the persuasion as Ggio was unable to convey coherent words due to his howling laughter again. The conversation continued on a more easy note after that and all six of them were trying to avoid themes they knew would only make Toshiro mad again. Ggio knew that the boy-genious only had few guilty pleasures, Tolkien being one of them, that was so sensitive about. He himself had also read the book, but never shared the passion, it was more like to prove to himself that he can read something with more than two-hundred pages of pulp fiction. And it seemed to impress the girls if, from time to time, he knew a tad more than was explained in the movie.

_Girls..._

Ggio allowed himself to grab some of the fries from Hinamori's plate and proceeded to chew them slowly, vehemently ignoring the scowl coming from the usually gentle girl.

_Right. Girls. When was the last time I met one worth impressing...?_

»You know we're splitting the check now, Ggio?«

_Ah... yes, girls in all their cheap beauty._ He scowled back: »Sure Hine, I'm always glad to pay for the fries you didn't intend to eat in the first place.« Dripping with sarcasm, the words came out a little more harsh than he expected, but seeing that Hinamori really didn't look _that_ affected, he just sighed and looked around for a little distraction. He remembered something he wanted to figure out about a minute ago, but now realised that Loly and Menoly effectively brainwashed him into thinking about certain kings and warriors; elves and dwarves,...

_I've never seen a school production of Lord, not a good one at least. I wonder if... _he smiled at himself, feeling a little mischieveous, as he imagined Hinamori as Frodo. _Ahh, perfection, just have to remind her not to shave her legs for what, a week? _Glancing swiftly towards the dark-haired girl next to him and averting his eyes even quicker when she looked back, Ggio smirked to himself.

_If you only knew... OK, next... The king, well, I guess none of us really looks royal enough, though Toshy would probably pull off one of the snobbish elves beautifully... and that leaves Rin as a dwarf. _

He knew exactly that he was bullshitting and just assigning roles on the grounds of just how much he liked one or the other, but he allowed himself that rare moments of guilty pleasure and knowledge that _fortunatelly_ _indeed_, nobody but himself can pick his own brain and imagination.

Then, just as he allowed himself to relax and assign Menoly as one of the _Nazgul_, his mind was overflown by a certain blue-haired senior, that would have looked perfect as...

_Nooo, stop! Erase! Rewind! _

He made himself a little more comfortable in his seat, and let his imagination flow. _Take two._

_Helm's deep. The evening of the battle, no warriors, only civilians there with no chance of surviving the locust of tens of thousands orcs, Uruk-hai and other abominations of nature created by the white hand of Saruman. Honestly..._Of course Ggio could bullshit himself into the role of the saviour if he wanted to, but... _That would just be ridiculous. I'm... standing with a make-shift bow and arrows on the fortress wall, waiting to die while taking down as many of those atrocities as possible. Yup. _

Smirking, he could now ignore the outside world completely.

_Ready to die for the cause, with no hope whatsoever. And then they come. _Ggio's mind provided him with a synchronized sound of a well-trained marsh, that resonated through the valley his imagination took him to. And there they were: the army of royal warriors, armoured in gold and silver. _No way those are the enemies, as one of them looked up the fortress' wall, directly to Ggio, with eyes of neon-azure. And then he takes off his helmet that is just a tad different from the others, allowing anyone to distinguish the general at the first glance already. The longish blue locks, so well hidden before, spilled themselves over the broad shoulders, and when the door opens, he finally looks away from me and..._

Ggio couldn't pause even for a hair of a second to realise that either the temperature of the october afternoon rose to a summer level or there is something going on that he should aknowledge as soon as he was snapping back to reality. And that meant... _not just yet._

_Him. As Haldir of Lorien. Ahem..._

The raven-haired boy shifted a little in his seat and registered that the group decided to leave and go home, so he fumbled for some bills to pay for his share – _and half of Hinamori's, apparently – _then ran after Toshiro, who slowly made his way down the street. Once Loly, Menoly, Hinamori and Rin had caught up, they all continued at the slow pace, enjoying the October evening sun and eachother's company.

Ggio's mind was still somewhat focused on his previous fantasy and a certain elf warrior. _Well, if there ever is a production, we should sign a petition for him to be Haldir. He will have nothing to complain about, he dies after few lines of text. But I would just love to see him in that armour... he'd look so badass...oh dear. _

Sighing, Ggio noticed that he was just a little too excited about the idea that he was ready to admit to himself.

_Well, maybe there's something in that brochure about participation of the watchers in their assigned juniors' ideas... HOLY CRAP!_

Ggio stopped in his tracks and the others took a moment to realise that, then they just looked at Ggio's wide-eyed expression expectantly. »Do-Do any of you realise what _this programme_ means? !«

Toshiro rolled his eyes and decided not to honour the ridiculous question with an answer, while the others just mumbled something between 'No' and 'What'.

»It means that...« Ggio had to calm himself before he started hyperventilating and could somewhat keep his cool, »... th-that... _Crap..._Well, the five students the whole school is drooling over are... seniors also...«

»Holy _shit._« Loly apparently lost her cool too, as she realised what Ggio was implying. »That means... five juniors will be assigned to... _them_.«

The logic was simple and so, so obvious, but once it was spilled out in the open and once the meaning sank in, only then they all realised that as much as they thought about the programme, its objectives and effects, and – at least in Ggio's case – just how to get around it and avoid the whole show, since he himself decided he didn't need shared custody between his parents and this so-called watcher, they all got a little anxious on the prospect of... well, being assigned to someone they could have only admired from afar up until then.

Never before had their way home been accompanied with that much silence.

* * *

That same evening, something strange was going on at the Karakura High, as two of the students that had no business being in the school building at that hour, entered one of the classrooms, not caring even a little that they could be charged with breaking in or at least trespassing.

Kurosaki was just good like that.

_Mmm, I sure could get used to this. Lightheaded and smothered in endorphines. _

Grimmjow's mouth was moving languidly against Kurosaki's soft lips, one of his hands sneaked around the redhead's neck and the other around the slim waist.

Although they agreed on the no-funny-business policy at school, Kurosaki again showed his persistant inclination to breaking the rules, when he waited for Grimmjow to finish his training and dragged him into the school, flaunting his lock-picking skills, then burst into the first dimly lit classroom, pushed the bluenette against the nearest desk and started kissing the hell out of him.

_Mhm, life's good._

»Funny...«

The mischievious brown eyes watched the blue ones as they moved apart for air and caught Grimmjow's attention. »What is?«

Kurosaki's hands that held him tightly around his waist, have now moved to the front and started unbuttoning his shirt. »You are so distant and not into this, it really makes me want to punch you.«

Grimmjow's sky blue eyes were currently focused on those long, elegant fingers that were fumbling with the dark fabric and just pondering on whether he should go home or indulge Kurosaki in this rule-breaking activity a little more. Having finally unbuttoned the shirt, Kurosaki's fingers were now gently travelling up and down the creases of Grimmjow's torso and kind of made the decision for him.

_A little further won't hurt._ »I'm not into SM, thank you very much.«

The way they interacted never ceased to amaze Grimmjow. He was blunt, direct, mostly honest and would prefer rudeness over politeness at any given time. Kurosaki on the other hand, was careful with words, he preferred them neatly packed with double-meaning and intrigue. Grimmjow could swear that just a month ago he wouldn't have been able to stand such a stuck-up hipster prick, but now he actually found their communication... well, intriguing, and that's exactly what made the red-head interesting.

But at some point, he had to not only realize, but also aknowledge that the red-haired senior's expectations seemed to lay on a different shore than his own.

And he was not ready for that just yet. So, like on many occasions before, he just averted the topic and hoped that the boy will get the hint, that there's something missing for this – whatever _that_ was – to work on another level.

The blue-haired athlete could not bring himself to trust Kurosaki, and that was exactly it, the mother of all problems: he just couldn't act all affectionate and sweet, just to get in his pants. It had always been like that for him, either honesty or nothing. But that kind of logic was apparently lost to the boy in his arms, seeing that Kurosaki's life was mostly centered around pretense and manipulation, consequently he had never had a problem with working fake feelings towards others to get what he wanted.

And yet, this Kurosaki kid hardly ever even flinched at rejection.

»I know, otherwise I'd introduce you to Shinji.« Kurosaki's fingers tightened around the collar of the shirt he had been playing with for the last few minutes and dragged the bluenette closer, catching his lips again.

The unbuttoned shirt was most definitely a sign of moving further but Grimmjow couldn't let his own hands roam as freely as he wanted to. Something about the school building didn't tick him right and soon he found himself gently pushing Kurosaki away.

»Sorry, not here.« Pecking the redhead on his now pouting lips, he smirked and began to button up. »This place has the sexual vibe of a graveyard.«

Rolling his eyes, Kurosaki ran his fingers through his sunset locks and sat on the desk next to Grimmjow. »Where hopes and dreams come to die, huh? Well...« he turned slightly towards the blue-haired schoolmate, who was now halfheartedly trying to tuck the shirt in the trousers, but failed and just accomplished that ragged-uniform punk look, not that he was aware of it. »... some can argue, that graveyards are romantic. Candles, silence...«

Grimmjow snorted to himself and murmured: »Then zombies or crazy goths. Or worse, cops.«

»What are you saying, big bad blue afraid of such sanctified places?«

Kurosaki's eyes were once again sparkling with mischief and Grimmjow wondered why they bothered doing anything physical at all, since the most of their 'quality time' was spent discussing such atrocious topics. Like right now, he was actually pondering the idea of meeting the redhead at three in the morning at the local cemetery, just to see if his head would shine as bright as the candles.

»No way, why would I be?«

Kurosaki slid off the desk and approached the bluenette once again. »Why not? Most people are.«

_Hilarious._

»Kurosaki... Didn't your parents teach you anything? It's the _living _you should fear.«

Grimmjow just meant it as a joke but was a little taken aback, when Kurosaki's expression sobered up and he solemnly put his right hand on Grimmjow's chest, exactly over his heart. He let it rest for a while and just watched it in peaceful silence, then spoke softly: »_You_ are alive. Should I be afraid of you?«

_How the hell am I supposed to answer that? ! _»Uhm...«

Brown eyes locked with the blue one and just stared. »Should I?«

Breathing shallow and trying to persuade his own heart not to beat out of his chest, Grimmjow was lost for words. »What do you mean?«

Suddenly, Kurosaki took two steps back and crossed his arms. »I'm asking you, will you hurt me, Grimmjow?« Staring at the floor, he continued: »You see, there's a reason I never messed with anyone from our little gang, and after your meeting with the headmaster...«

_My god, he looks genuinely nervous... _

»Nnoistick and Shinji don't seem as angry at you anymore and Chad, well, he never hated you in the first place. It's been fourteen days since the announcement. How close to Nnoitra can you get in fourteen days? ! The prick took like, a whole elementary school of time to trust me and...«

Grimmjow's eyebrows disappeared somewhere above his hairline. »Kurosaki... are you jelaous?«

A loud snort was heard and Kurosaki scoffed at him in disdain. »You poor simple mind. If you let me explain in more plain terms... I'm not jelaous, I'm kind of afraid. If you start hanging out with us, you know, it's a lot to take in. I mean... If you get messed up with the business we do, then who knows what you'll become. All of us were mere puppies before we got mixed into all this. I'm not saying I'm sorry, hell, I'm leading probably the most exciting life in this piss-ass school. But it did change me. And it _will _change you. And then you will hurt me.«

Grimmjow was beginning to feel a little annoyed. Not only did he understand perfectly what Kurosaki meant in the first place but, somewhere in the middle of the condescending attitude and tossing around the semantics, he realised, that for a second, Kurosaki felt insecure.

»So what are you saying- It is either your ass or Nnoitra's alliance? _Shit..._« He stood up and made his way towards the door »Like I need any of that.«

»Don't go.« a pleading whisper left Kurosaki's lips.

_What?_

»I didn't mean to rush you away.«

Grimmjow actually turned to face the redhead, waves of annoyance still flowing from him and though Kurosaki now looked defeated, he still couldn't shake the feeling of being smothered with the redhead's expectations he wasn't ready to fulfill.

»Then what do you want, berry? Tell me, maybe my simple mind will be able to comprehend it.«

»Just... listen, OK?« Ichigo moved back to the desk and leaned next to it, his eyes never leaving Grimmjow's blue orbs. He let out a shaky sigh and continued, not even thinking of breaking the eye-contact. »I always get, what I want, Grimmjow.«

Grimmjow snorted. _Don't I know that. _

»I thought you were hot, back in class... talking back and everything. You got Shinji worked up. That in itself is not really an accomplishment becouse Shin has a temper of an old-school diva, but it's the way you stood your ground that made me notice you. That, and I couldn't remember ever doing bussiness...«

»OK, stop right there, Kurosaki. It's all peachy and simple, I was apparently a special fucking snowflake, now stop beating around the bush.«

Ichigo actually smirked and waved his hand. »Sorry. I know I'm rambling, I just wanted you to fully understand your actions. So, you didn't rat out Shin and Chad. You know what?« Standing up and approaching the blunette, Kurosaki's eyes held a new quality in them. »Maybe you should. Maybe they deserve expulsion, even prison, maybe I do too.«

»That's crazy, even for you.«

Ichigo slid his hands around Grimmjow's waist and laced his fingers on the back. »Is it? I know that Grantz boy lied and accused you too. But you see...« Kurosaki stepped closer and pressed himself against Grimmjow's body. »...not only did you not rat out my accomplices, you defended them. Just because you were angry at that little druggie. Of course he lied, but you would be cleared nonetheless. And overall...« brown eyes were now boring into Grimmjow's. »... you knew well what we do and how we function. I ordered Chad to beat Ilforte up over an essay he refused to pay for. And here you are, defending that.«

The beautiful logic of the big picture didn't escape Grimmjow, but he was lost for words. _I-... I didn't...hell, I just hate stupid people..._

»You can't beat it, you know. Not with the reasoning you are doing right now. Maybe someday you will understand your actions better but for now, I think it's safe to say that that few encounters with my accomplices have already changed you.« The next words came out almost shyly while Kurosaki's hand gently moved a few of stray locks of blue hair over Grimmjow's forehead.

»So, I'll ask you again: will you hurt me, Grimmjow? Just the way I had hurt people when I had become a part of all this?«

An image of russet eyes flashed through Grimmjow's mind and he couldn't help himself but wonder, if that had anything to do with Renji. The idea was compelling, but too far-fetched at the moment, so he let it go. Instead, he focused on two brown eyes, looking so deceivingly innocent.

»How the hell am I supposed to answer that?« His head was beginning to throb a little and he rubbed his eyes, half in confusion, half in defeat. »Just tell me, what do you want to hear?«

The corners of Kurosaki's lips arched faintly upwards. »Nothing.«

_You FUCKING kidding me? ! _

The expression on his face must have said it all because Kurosaki smiled almost honestly, tugged on his collar to bring their lips together, and added: »Don't tell me, show me.«

Confused by the redhead's words but even more so by his actions Grimmjow let his barriers fall crushing to the ground and he followed Kurosaki's lead, making him forget everything he stood his ground for just seconds ago.

* * *

The strange feeling he had around Kurosaki and about the things he said still hadn't left and, while absentmindedly flicking through the pages of his notes the next day and waiting for the schoolday to start, Grimmjow couldn't help himself but try to re-think his actions concerning the gang.

_Why the hell is it so easy to fall under their influence?_

It's not like he needed friends, he had Renji after all, and by the way things had been going, he'll have a junior to take care of in no-time. But then again, what if the reason wasn't that complicated? What if it was just simple and shallow: they aknowledged him. They wanted to have something to do with him, they _chose him_.

_What if... what if I'm just tired of being one of the invisible ones, the ones that –no matter how much they want to persuade themselves, that who you represent in high school is of no importance for life – just don't leave that much of an impression and just gradually fade away as soon as they leave? _

He rubbed his eyes in exasperation and tried to do his best at understanding the trail of his own thoughts.

_What if, for once, I just want a shortcut to being noticed, feel better at least, and thrive under all of the attention... just like they do?_

Sighing, he took out his phone and decided, that some things need not only a night, but a week of sleeping over, when he noticed a text message pending.

_'Hi there; ) See where that nerd's in the first row hands are?'_

He almost laughed out loud, then typed back: _'On the desk, baka.'_

It didn't take long to receive an answer and a smug smirk crossed Grimmjow's lips as he read: _'If he only knew, what happened yesterday... on that same desk : )'_

_Bad, bad indeed._

_'I can enlighten him :P'_

He heard a silent chuckle from the back, and soon received another text: _'You wouldn't DARE; )'_

»Oy, Ishida!«

Kurosaki started laughing out loud and Grimmjow's lips stretched into a grin so wide, all of his – _perfect, dare he say – _teeth were showing, as he watched the stuck-up schoolmate turn backwards.

»No, NO!« Kurosaki jumped from the back row and, still laughing like his sanity depended on it, made his way to Grimmjow and covered his mouth before the blue-haired male could utter another word. »Nothing, Ishida, he's just being a d- dumbass...« The red-haired boy wiped the tears of laughter with his other hand and waved the now scowling schoolmate's attention away, saying: »You... just turn and... _keep your hands where they were..._«

Now Grimmjow was howling with laughter too, seeing that apparently that Ishida-guy had had no intention to indulge them with attention anymore, and had just turned to underline something in his textbook again.

Kurosaki's hand left Grimmjow's mouth, as he lowered himself to whisper in the bluenette's ear: »Asshole.«

Grimmjow's smirk was now directed towards the redhead: »Up yours, baby... just like yesterday.«

Before Kurosaki could manage a coherent response, a certain blondie stopped in the doorway of the classroom looking smug and important as ever then waved to the two, but made an announcment loud enough for everybody to hear: »Oy, fuck-buddies... _the lists are out._«

And just as he said it, he turned and exited the classroom, the glances of his schoolmates following him.

»Well, we better go check that out then.« Kurosaki looked as interested as a five year old girl would be in Greek mythology, but he still grabbed Grimmjow's hand and dragged him along as he made his way towards the door.

Xoxooxoxoxoxoxox

The main hall, that stretched along the whole length of the building, was usually used as a transition hatchway between the entrance of Karakura High and the locker hall. There was nothing special about the hall and most of the students usually didn't bother to stop there, although the information boards were placed exactly there - on the walls of the most frequently ignored part of the building - usually just sporting some posters promoting recycling, healthy way of living or – what was usually reserved for the seniors' info-board – some extremely useless advice on career choices, advertising one college or another. The only useful thing about the hall were huge windows, that stretched along the whole length of the hall, offering a wonderful view on the schoolyard and making it possible for the students inside to determine first-handed just how much one needs to wear a jacket before exiting the warmth of the building, assessing the amount of shivering of those who stood outside.

So yeah, overall, the hall was pretty useless most of the time, except for that day.

As Shinji Hirako mentioned before, certain lists finally found their way on the boards of juniors and seniors – not to mention with a delay of more than a week - containing the same names, but slightly different regarding the order. Depending on which board they were pinned at, the lists started with alphabetical order of either juniors or seniors, making it easier for the students to find their names – and finding out exactly who from the other group they were paired with.

The weird – or maybe not so much – thing that Grimmjow and Ichigo realised when they reached the hall was that not only seniors and juniors, but the whole school was crowded in that usually so spacious-but-today-unbelievingly-suffocating hall, although they both had to admit that the crowd in front of the juniors' info-board was incomparably larger.

_Ha, don't want to mess with the old ones, do you people?_

Grimmjow's smug smirk was quickly wiped off his face as he realized that, although the group in front of their board was not that large, the whole process of searching for one's goddamn name - and _of course_ feeling the need to debate the chosen pairing and not giving the slightest fuck for anxious students standing behind you - was unnecessarily slowed down. Just when he felt the need to grunt some complaints about the _illiterate fucks at the front_, Ichigo gently tapped the shoulder of one short and chubby senior who was fidgeting in front of them.

The senior turned, his eyes going wide when he saw the deceivingly warm brown ones, staring down at him. Grimmjow was pretty sure by then the guy would go into cardiac arrest when Kurosaki offered him one of those smiles that can only be passed as gentle if one had known the redhead for mere seconds.

»Move.«

As if the redhead had cast a spell not only on the aforementioned guy but all the others as well, the seniors somehow just decided to move and make space for the infamous unofficial fiend leader. Smirking, Ichigo took hold of Grimmjow's hand and led a still slightly surprised bluenette through the mass, silently humming to himself: »_Go down Moses, way down in Egypt land..._«

Grimmjow tried to act his age and not laugh at the condescending attitude but there was something appealing about that superior status that he was sure not one of the infamous group deserved completely but had obtained it nonetheless. The only thing the blue-haired senior couldn't wrap his head around completely was just how the group managed to make everyone around them so jumpy and agitated but, seeing that he was standing in front of the infoboard in no-time, dismissed the thoughts and began to look for a particular name.

»Yo, smurf!«

A strong grip from behind distracted him just as he passed the letter H and Grimmjow was forced to regain his balance as the tall and lanky owner of an impressively strong grip shoved him away.

»_What the fu- _«

Nnoitra let go of the bluenette and nonchalantly stepped to his front and quickly scanned the list: »Nooow, now. Let me see who's the lucky midget to do the errands for me.«

Ichigo, seeming completely unimpressed by his assigned junior, made no comment on the choice but was now regarding Nnoitra with a slight frown: »Stick, who _the fuck_ gave you the permission to touch Grimmjow? !«

The whole situation with the programme and the lists had felt slightly bizarre from the beginning, but this statement kind of added fuel to the fire.

Nnoitra obviously got the name he was looking for and turned towards the redhead, placing both hands to his hips: »I don't hear him bitching about it so why do _you_?«

»Just know your place, Jiruga. The name next to mine has just made it extremely easy for me to have you by your so-called _le balls royale_.«

Nnoitra frowned and turned to the board again, searching for the name: »K... k ... _holy giveafuck. _Kurotsuchi_._«

In the few seconds of silence that followed, Grimmjow actually pondered on the idea to smack Kurosaki for acting like the bluenette was some prized posession, but then Nnoitra turned and presented the crowd that was following the commotion with more than a little interest a devilish grin: »Damn, Ichi...«

Ichigo crossed his arms and smirked. »Convenient, huh?« Winking at the still grinning Nnoitra, Ichigo now focused on Grimmjow again. »I feel like I have to apologise for leaving you out- you see, the father of my assigned junior is...« the redhead paused for a moment, as if trying to find the right words, »... let's say, important to Nnoi. Right, Stick?«

Nnoitra laughed out loud and moved himself aside to make space in front of the board: »Understatement, but yeah. Important.«

_I really miss the days when conversations were simple..._

Grimmjow raised an eyebrow and sighed. »You make it really hard for me to give a damn...«

He averted his focus to the wall again, when a loud, high-pitched _'Yeeeeessssssss!_' boomed through the hall.

* * *

_Goddamn textbook, I knew I'll start forgetting things before a month would pass..._

Ggio was furiously rummaging through his schoolbag and trying to remember if the book he vaguely remembered grabbing that morning actually made it to the said bag. He had just taken his place in their classroom when he remembered leaving the paper he did his homework on between the covers of his textbook and was now experiencing a slight panic attack, knowing that their math teacher didn't favor him even remotely enough to let the missing homework pass.

_Nah, crap... I wonder if Toshy can help me out..._

Turning around to where his white-haired genious of a friend usually sat, he was disappointed to be met with an empty chair. Now that he was thinking about it, all of his friends had yet to show up and he scowlingly looked around the classroom.

Most of the seats were unoccupied and he was beginning to wonder if there had been something he was missing.

_I know it's still fairly early but still, I would expect that at least those first-row enthusiasts would sit here and... I don't know... Debate who enjoyed doing homework most?_

Still wondering what he could do about his missing homework he got up and made his way towards the clasroom door, deciding to check if at least one of his friends was maybe stuck in the corridor or something equally ridiculous. Fiddling nervously with the zipper of his hoodie, he stuck his head out the classroom and looked around only to notice a group of second-years giggling and whispering.

He had no intention to eavesdrop on their shrieking chatter, but one of the girls actually whispered something that piqued his interest:

»Vega? Don't you remember him? You two take violin classes together!«

The boy's eyes bulged as he now stepped outside in the corridor and raised his eyebrows at the gossping girls. Now that he could take a better look at them, he recognized them as the three, the female equivalents of Kurosaki and the group.

The three girls, whose names he knew – thanks to Loly 'trustworthy' sources - to be Lisa, Nanao and Senna were considered the it-girls and hearing his name mentioned by one of them was a reason enough for Ggio to stand rooted to the spot and waiting for either something epic to happen or to finally realize that for some tedious reason without his knowledge he became the official target to be laughed at, since - _according to Loly again _- the three obviously held the power to manipulate your social status either to heavens or to oblivion.

_At least at Karakura high._

Ggio nervously shifted his weight and waited to be noticed as the girls kept on chatting:

»Who? I don't remember him!« The girl Ggio knew was Senna was pouting slightly and shifting her russet eyes from one girl to another. »What does he look like?«

With a strange burst of courage, Ggio stepped towards the group and, not really confident and completely lacking any other reason than curiosity, stepped in front of the bright-eyed girl, whose dark hair was tied together with what he knew was her trademark red ribbon.

_How the hell do I remember such things but always fail to recall even the most simple formulas in chemistry... huh._

Realizing that he was looking at the girl for quite a few moments now, he wanted to introduce himself but the girl beat him to it, saying: »May I help you?«

Her voice was showing just enough annoyance to make Ggio remember some other moment not so long ago, when another older student snarled those same words at him.

_Sheesh, and they say those words are supposed to be polite... _»Umm...«

The three girls looked at him expectantly and Ggio thought that, on the scale of intimidation, they really do give the boys a run for their money... but still.

Of all the times he already made himself a fool – and in front of _the_ Grimmjow nonetheless – he almost felt at home with all the embarrassment, so he stood his ground:

»Yes, I'm Ggio Vega... and you were talking about me?«

A quick glance to the other two and Senna smiled to him as if they had known eachother for all of their lives: »Ggio, how nice to meet you!«

She held out her hand and Ggio took it, noticing that although the girl was a second-year, she was just a hint shorter than himself. Her russet eyes gleamed at him and almost reached that sunset hue, so Ggio couldn't help himself but smile.

_She's popular for a reason. She's cute. Kinda._

»So... is there something you wanted from me or...?«

»Ah yes!« Senna now looked at Nanao and Lisa, both smirking, and then back to Ggio. »I kind of wanted to know who you are... you know... maybe...«

_Is that a blush? !_

»...maybe we could practice together sometimes...«

»Uh... like... violin?« Ggio's brain contemplated a slight possibility of shutdown, seeing that one of the most popular girls wanted individual practice, and with _him..._ but he quickly regained his composure when she answered: »Violin of course, I remember you being somewhat talented.«

And then she winked at him, closed the distance between them and put one of her perfectly manicured hands on his arm. »Maybe your watcher can come and listen sometimes...«

Ggio was now getting a noseful of her flowery perfume and had to give his head a slight shake to become lucid again. »Uh... sure... wait. Did you say _my watcher_?«

Now the three girls blinked at him.

»Sure, didn't you hear about the lists? They are out on the infoboards down the entrance hall.« It was Nanao who explained and Ggio must have looked pretty confused, seeing that she smiled and looked at Lisa: »How sweet, he doesn't know yet.«

»Know what?« Ggio was scowling now but to them he couldn't have looked more ferocious than a little kitten, since they all giggled again and Senna put her other hand on his shoulder, leaning forward and whispering to his ear:

»Well, as far as I know... you got _the panther._«

Ggio blinked once. Blinked twice. And then ran as fast as he could towards the Karakura High's entrance, not daring to hope that what that cute – _ah dammit, she is – _girl was... true...

... but it was. At least the part about the Programme index.

The crowd that met him seemed impenetrable and he noticed that not only the first years but also the second and third years were huddling in front of their information board, making the group so much larger. Trying to squeeze himself through the prying student body he noticed two dark pigtails wiggling a few rows in front of him.

»Loly!«

The two pigtails flinched and turned around, revealing one very annoyed and frowning girl. When she noticed him, she held her hand out and Ggio grabbed it, letting her drag him closer. »Hey there, Ggio...«

»What's with all the nosy attendance here?«

She shrugged and turned to the front, probably contemplating if climbing over people was a safe tactic that wouldn't get her expelled. »What do you think? It's all about those five idiots... although I can't blame them for wanting to know. You know... Tosh is already paired with none other than Yasotura!« Ggio must have looked dumbfounded because Loly obviously felt the need to elaborate: »Oh _come on _you baka, _Chad Yasotura_! One of _them_!«

_Geez Loly... them? Now you gave 'them' that Voldemorty vibe..._

Ggio chuckled to himself, but instantly remembered what Senna told him before. »Loly... by any chance... do you know who my watcher is?«

Apparently Loly mastered her _you-are-an-idiot _glare to the triple A level and Ggio regretted asking the moment the words left his lips.

»Ggio, sometimes I wonder of someday you'll die on the grounds of forgetting how to breathe... How in heavens should I know that you stupid, stupid boy? !«

_Well, she always was a dramatic one..._

Ggio sighed and looked to the front, a little knot of anxiousness forming in his stomach. He wasn't as naive as people around him wanted to believe. He knew that his watcher had to be someone of at least a little importance since the word spread as fire, but he didn't dare hope, no, he didn't dare to even let a brush of thought lead him into thinking that maybe... _just maybe... _it was one of them_._ He knew he would be, despite all his bravado about not wanting nor needing a watcher, at least slightly disappointed if it wasn't.

»Come!« Loly apparently found a hole in the mass of people and dragged him forward, screaming at the guy in front of her: »Oh get lost you big buffalo, I am the one whose cute butt is assigned to slavery!«

_As I said... dramatic. _

Ggio couldn't help himself but smile as the big guy actually moved and made space for the two friends to finally reach the board. Loly let go of Ggio's hand and traced the list with her slender finger. It didn't take her long to find her name: »Aivirrne... Huh.«

She looked like her enthusiasm deflated a little. »Orihime Inoue. Yuck.« She turned towards Ggio and smiled halfheartedly: »I was hoping for someone more manly and less pastry-inclined but hey... at least now I can eat my misery away. Come on, let's see who you got...«

Her almost violet eyes turned to the lists again and she muttered: »V... Vega... there it i-...« stopping mid-sentence she turned towards Ggio and in that instant, the boy knew exactly what she was going to say. He knew exactly that Senna was not joking around. And he knew exactly what his next reaction would be.

»_Jaegerjacquez Grimmjow.«_ The words barely left his friend's lips in a small whisper and Ggio felt as if he was lifted a few inches up in the air, his fists involuntarily shooting up as he, while barely knowing what he was doing, let out a triumphant: »YEEEEEEESSSSSSS!«

* * *

_Also... this is my first beta-ed chapter ever, so thank you FrozenArrogance:)_


	5. Halloweenish Part I: Masks On

_Disclaimer: Disclaiming the ownership of everything. Except for the parents... I own the shit out of them. HA.  
_

_A/N: I was yelled at first thing in the morning when a certain someone demanded an update (I'm looking at you El...) Love such mornings X) Now go make me coffee!  
_

* * *

_Gah, the shame! Again! I'm sure there's a legal limit to just how many times one is allowed to make a fool out of oneself, and I'm pushing it like an old car that won't start._

Hiding himself under the soft blanket of his bed exactly like he had been doing for the last week or so, Ggio grabbed the pillow and stuffed his face into it.

_God... why?_

His right leg moved on its own accord and kicked the wooden bed frame, leaving it not even slightly damaged but still accompanied with the glorious sting of pain. Ggio truly hit the carved wood with excellent precision as if he really really wanted to break his own ankle.

_Ouch._

_GODDAMMIT!_

The slim figure abruptly sat up and massaged his sore limb, sighing and holding himself back from using loud and colorful language he picked up from his schoolmates.

He had been scolded from his father before already for using the word _God _in other context than a prayer, so he'd rather restrain himself than go through _that_ again. His father was a deeply religious and conservative man and his mother was no less, so consequently Ggio was also raised in the spirit of Sunday services and saying a prayer every time before meal.

_And not being able to express my pain. What a hypocrite I am, making a bad word only count if spoken out loud..._

The raven-haired boy snorted at his own thoughts and flopped down on his back, then brought his arm up and covered his eyes, inhaling the scent of fabric softener coming from his long-sleeved gray and blue hoodie.

_Everything would have been fine if Kurosaki didn't notice my stupid reaction. If only I didn't yell. If only I just believed Senna. If only I was sick that day... oh, dear._

_»YEEEEEESSSS!« _

_He remembered it. The yell. He was so excited- he was actually assigned to one of THE five. And really... what were the odds? Five juniors for five famous seniors. Five. Out of almost a hundred, if not more? He felt so lucky, so proud, so excited... and then it all fell apart, as the rumor spread._

_»He's got the Panther...«_

_»I'm so envious, Grimmjow is so dreamy...«_

_»But the kid is cute also... such pretty hair...«_

_»Damn, I wish I was a junior again...«_

_»Oy!« _

_The last voice should make Ggio shudder and run but at that time, he really didn't know better. He turned around and faced a perfect-white, quite gentle smile that belonged to a certain redhead. _

_»You the one who got Grimm-chan?«_

_Ggio smirked at the endearment, especially when realizing that Grimmjow probably hates the title with vengeance ._

_»Uh, yes.« He couldn't hide his excited smile, so he looked up to the hot-charamel coloured eyes and-acting bolder than he sincerely felt- streched out his hand, saying: »I'm Ggio Vega, and you must be his friend, Ichigo Kurosaki...«_

_The warm dark-honey eyes morphed into hard amber in an instant as Ichigo lowered himself to Ggio's height, not bothering to take his hand: _

_»Who the fuck do you think you are?«The red-haired senior tilted his head a tad to the side, as if he was contemplating at least ten different ways of scratching the poor, now actually a little frightened Ggio's eyes out. »What, wanna be besties now?«_

_»N-no... s-sorry...« Ggio discretely pulled his hand back and shoved both of them into his pockets, slouching a little under the gaze the senior was currently sending his way._

_»How pathetic.«_

_There was another fact that Ggio realized in that instant. When talking about Kurosaki it was not just about how _he_ perceived you and what _he_ thought about you. Oh no. The fact was, whatever mood he decided to convey, it spread like black plague – no, really, it was contagious to the point of scary, because that was the only way Ggio could explain what happened next._

_»He really is pathetic...« _

_»I would be so embarrassed right now...« _

_»Kurosaki's totally right, how could that kid be paired with Grimm...«_

_»Yeah, and his hair is totally stupid...«_

_Of all the times Ggio felt embarrassed and idiotic, this moment sure took the trophy. Kurosaki was still leaning forward into the frightened junior's face, his warm breath fanning over Ggio's overheated skin and the younger boy cringed squeezing his eyes shut and anticipating more insulting words to come. _

_»What a little baby you are... oh, oh, I know! Does the baby have a crush on a big boy called Grimmjow? Is that why you're shitting your pants with excitement?«_

_Ggio's mind was reeling, trying to even begin to understand the redhead's implications but came up with nothing useful. How could he? What the senior implied was... oh, impossible. On so many, many levels._

_»WH-n... N-no...«_

_Keeping his eyes closed, Ggio couldn't see the slender finger approaching his cheek, but he felt it nonetheless when it gently brushed over it._

_»Aww, so who's that pretty little blush for?« The finger brushed his other cheek and Ggio was so frightened, embarrassed and humiliated he squeezed his eyelids harder to the point his eyes teared up. _

_But the redhead didn't stop: »Is it for me, then?« the finger slowly moved under Ggio's chin and, tilting the junior's head slightly backwards, Kurosaki closed a little more distance between them. »I think it is. Would you like me to...« Yet coming closer, their lips were merely a poor inch apart and Ggio was now almost ready to punch, scream or run away, when the cruel cruel senior uttered his final words: »...smooch you? You would like that huh, you little faggot boy?« Pausing, he let the words sink in._

_»Oh, but you are, aren't you...? A little faggot that's got little hots for Grimmy...«_

_Ggio's eyes snapped open and he pushed Kurosaki away as hard as he could._

_»NO! I don't! I-I... I don't even like him! I DON-«_

_»Kurosaki, are you stuck or something?«_

_That low baritone, that kind voice... Ggio could recognize it anywhere, but was way too out of his mind to care. He just stopped, in the middle of the sentence and turned to face the blue-haired senior, his appointed watcher who had just made his way through the crowd around them, with wide eyes._

_»I was waiting for your sorry ass over there, why are- oh, hey!« His eyebrows shot up in surprise as he looked at Ggio, who was standing as still as a statue and gaping at him stupidly. »Now I know why the name sounded familiar...« the senior smirked and Ggio cringed again, »... we just keep on bumping into each other. I guess your soul belongs to me now.«_

_He meant it as a joke, he really did. He even winked at the junior, but Ggio jumped as if the bolt of electricity shot through him and just ran away._

And he had promptly been hiding from the world ever since.

Yes, Ggio was a part of a school social experiment. Yes, he was assigned to one of the most popular seniors.

_Grimmjow. _

And yes, he had spent the last week hiding from said senior, avoiding him to the point the goody-goody Ggio actually pondered on the idea of skipping school. But, if there was anything that scared him more than his own wounded pride, it was his father's wrath and it made Ggio cringe at the mere thought of his father finding out he missed class with no better reason than some teenage quarrel. So, he had rather pulled a hoodie over his head and ran past any situation that presented him with the slightest possibility of meeting a certain blue-haired athlete.

Judging by the amounts of laughter that spilled behind him throughout the day that Kurosaki made a joke out of him his subtlety failed him all the way. Apparently the whole school had decided, once Kurosaki made it obvious he found his demeanor hilarious, that he was the new laughing-stock to the whole student body, seeing that everywhere his raven-haired head popped up, people started hissing and whistling or downright lifting their fists in the air, doing a battledance while singing every version of the word _'Yes' _their simple teenage minds could come up with.

_I never did a battledance. Stupid jerks._

»Uuuuugh!«

The pillow Ggio was hiding his face into suddenly thumped against the wall and was accompanied by a loud and angry grunt. The boy couldn't help himself but feel a little disappointed at how anticlimactic the silent thump was when he really felt the need to crush something. Loudly.

_How DARE he. _

_I didn't do anything to him. Assh-_

»Ggio, dear? What's with all the ruckus?«

The door of his room opened quietly as the light from the outside spilled into Ggio's purposely darkened personal space. Well, as personal as it could get- no matter how many signs he taped on the door to _'Knock before you enter' _or _'No parents allowed', _his mother firmly believed that her teenage son was not entitled to his own life and privacy until he was forty and thus vehemently ignored the signs.

_Sheeeeesh... how did you manage to hear THAT? !_

»It's nothing, mom.«

The middle-height woman in her forties made her way inside and sat down on the bed next to Ggio. Her warm coppery-gold eyes were focused on her son as she gently put her soft hand on his hair and carressed it. »You sure? Because baby...« Ggio cringed. Again. But his mother didn't seem to notice. »...It's been four days now and I know you're not sick or anything. I'm going to need a better reason to keep you out of school. Did anything happen?«

»Uhh... Ummm...« Ggio's thoughts were speeding around as he tried to come up with a scenario that would make his mother firmly believe that if she ever sent him back to school, the alien invasion will happen and the downfall of humanity will be all her fault.

_Yeah, right._

»Mum... well, they all laugh at me.«

Those warm coppery eyes narrowed at him, but she kept silent.

»I mean... Kurosaki does. And because of him, all others do also.«

»Why?«

»Uhhh...«

His mother waved as if she wanted him to forget the question. »Never mind. What about the teachers?«

It was Ggio's turn to narrow his eyes: »What about them?«

»Well, do _they_ laugh at you?«

»Uh-uh. Why would they?«

The woman's modestly glossed lips stretched into a kind smile: »You see, then you just continue to get along with the teachers. That's all you need to worry about- them and your grades. That Kurosaki child is just a bully.«

Ggio stared at his mother incredulously, steadily becoming convinced she was from outer space. »Mum...«

»But still, I understand your need to be accepted...«

_Theeeeeere we go._

»... so, maybe you should go and talk to that Kurosaki boy?«

_As if._ »Yeah, because the last time I tried that it just went _peachy._«

The smile on his mother's lips faltered a little: »Don't use sarcasm on me, son. Now, what you should do is go to school, face that Kurosaki boy and tell him that being friendly is cool, and being a bully is _not_ cool and of he wants to be cool then he should re-think his actions. I understand...«

»_Uuuuuuugh _mom! I swear to God if you say you're _down with the ki-_...«

»GGIO!« His mother's voice stopped his rant as she stood up furiously. »You will NOT use that language in this house!«

_Shit, I said God._

»Uhm... Sorry... _but mom... _Kurosaki IS cool... I mean... ugh, I don't know...« _You just don't tell the epitome of popular how to be popular. You just don't._

»Well, seeing that _I'm not down with it,_ I can't really help you, can I?« his mother wiped her hands in the perfect white apron she wore and crossed them, looking as strict as ever. »That means you have it all figured out. The holidays are officially over, starting Monday you go back to school and face your problems like a man.« Turning to leave, she added: »Dinner's in ten minutes. Don't forget to wash your hands.«

Ggio muttered something and hid himself in blankets again.

_Oh joy._

* * *

»You know I only like you because of your father, right?«

The group of seniors was sitting at their favourite inside lunch spot during cold months, the spot that was unofficially passed down from older to younger members of the group. The memory of the previous leaders - the two students named Starrk and Shirosaki, who used to reign that back corner of the cafeteria while receiving wistful glances from other students – was still very vivid in most of the students' minds. Sometimes the two actually bothered looking around, focusing on something else than themselves but they somehow managed to remain oblivious to all the lash-batting and sighing coming their way. Still, those moments were as rare as the janitor's teeth as the two pretty much just stared at their own laptops, sharing a word or two with their younger members or pausing for a sip of coffee.

Taking that picture to the present however, there were no longer just seniors sitting at the spot because – for the courtesy of a certain programme they partaked the role in – two juniors despite everything achieved the privilege to join them.

The dark haired junior girl named Nemu Kurotsutchi sneaked her slender hands around the red-haired senior's neck and pressed herself against him from behind: »You know I only do this to piss you off, right?«

Kurosaki snickered and tipped them both back a little so that Nemu could lean against the wall while making himself comfortable between her legs. »Your boobs make an excellent pillow.«

»Heh, I should press them to your face then... until you stop breathing.«

»Ew.«

Nemu laughed out loud and pinched Kurosaki's earlobe, then wispered into his ear: »I know tits do shit for you. I always wanted a gay friend.«

Ichigo nuzzled his head into her and produced a sinister smile. »Uh-huh. Remind me to shoot myself before I'd go shopping with ya.«

»I'd love to do it for you...«

»Oh _would you two shut up? !_ I have homework you know!«

Shinji was evidently in his diva-mode again as he was slouching over some math problem Kurosaki refused to solve for him, reasoning that _'there are some basic math problems that Shin should be able to solve himself, since he himself doesn't want to be associated with illiterate morons'_.

»Ehh, that time of the month again...« Nemu giggled and Kurosaki lifted his hand for her to high-five as he was apparently impressed by her boldness.

»Uhm, Hirako-san?«

Shinji lifted his furious but wannabe-focused gaze from the book and blankly stared at the short white-haired boy that was sitting next to Chad.

»What the fuck did you give to your minion, Chibi? He's even shorter than he was yest- _ow!_«

Chad's hand lifted itself from the bench behind the junior which was put there while the tall senior was leaning closer to Toshiro - being nosy at what the boy was reading - and smacked his best friend at the back of his head.

»Behave, blondie. He's just trying to help.«

»Bitch, now I'm brain damaged... I'm sorry - run that by me again? _HELP_?«

»Yup,« Chad smiled gently at Toshiro, then returned his gaze back to Blondie. »I was blessed with a genious boy that deals with our algebra as if it's a joke. So...« The senior smiled at his friend, »... you want help or not?«

»Unh...« But before Shinji made up his mind, Toshiro took a glance at the senior's textbook and, after few seconds of silence, started talking:

»Uh-huh. So... you did it right, I mean the process itself. It's just not accurate enough...«

»But the solution says I should get some strange hieroglyphics for a result!«

Toshiro snickered: »But you did, you just don't know it yet!«

Blank stares coming from both Chad and Shinji urged the now very focused junior to continue his explanation. He sighed and pointed to the clumsily drawn graph in the corner of Shinji's textbook: »_f(x) equals cosinus x _on this interval...« He tapped the book with his pencil. »What you did here was to draw the graph fairly accurately but just read-out the roots instead of calculating them.«

The boy grabbed a pencil and started scribbling down Shinji's notes, completely engulfed in his own world: »...equal it with zero then... x is supposed to be... ah. See? Now it's correct.«

Shinji's eyes widened as he recognized not only the method but the fact that his Chibichad's minion just finished his homework for him and before he could stop himself from acting humane, he looked at Toshiro and whispered with awe: »Thanks man...«

Then he cringed, as if niceness was phisically hurting him, and added: »But that doesn't mean I like you.«

»Of course not.« Toshiro looked at Chad and the tall senior smiled at him and nodded approvingly, making Toshiro blush a little and lower his gaze.

»By the way, _Tosh_... where's your _little_ _friend_?« Kurosaki was nibbling on a chocolate chip cookie and wore a smug smile while confidently gazing over the table.

And Toshiro knew exactly why. He wasn't stupid. He knew exactly that Kurosaki made fun of Ggio and intentionally made the boy a laughing stock for the whole school, when Ggio really didn't embarrass himself _that_ much. He also realized at some point that Kurosaki probably did it just because he didn't want to share Grimmjow even for a second and would have done it to any junior that dared to be assigned to his... well, whatever the athlete was to him.

And that was probably the silliest reasoning Toshiro had ever heard of, all the while questioning just how stupid Grimmjow must be not to see directly through Kurosaki's antics.

Angry a little at both of them and just feeling bolder on the grounds of Shinji and Chad's praise, Toshiro looked at the red-haired senior and smirked: »In your pants, Kurosaki. Didn't you put it back in when you finished peeing this morning?«

Silence streched for a few century-long seconds, and then Shinji and Chad started howling with laughter, as Kurosaki looked totally flabbergasted: »Oh my god, they do exist...«

Cackling Nemu actually heard him and asked: »Who?«

Kurosaki stood up and leaned across the table, looking directly into Toshiro's turquoise eyes: »Fairies with brains... Heh, Toshy, you are good in my book now.« Ruffling the white spikes with his hand, Kurosaki made his way towards the exit of the cafeteria.

Little he knew that Toshiro was looking at his retreating back with as much hate as he could muster, considering that Chad's gentle hand found it's way on his shoulder and the senior's voice rumbled somewhere near the shorter boy's ear: »You got him good, Toshiro. It's been a long time since we've seen that.«

If Toshiro didn't know any better, he would say that that hand stayed on his shoulder a tad longer than it was customary.

But he knew better.

* * *

Meanwhile at the stadium, Grimmjow slammed his ankle on Renji's shoulder as the former grabbed it, determined to make it immobile.

»Ouch, you trying to give me gangrene?«

Renji chuckled and, considering that he was kneeling in front of the blue-haired athlete, looked up straight into those azures. »Oh baby, you are going to hurt all-over when I'm done with you.«

Grimmjow, now standing on only one foot, repositioned himself to regain balance, then snorted: »Corny. Be gentle now, my ass is still a little sore from our previous encounters.«

Renji laughed but positioned himself on one knee, then slowly started to raise himself up, effectively stretching Grimmjow's leg.

Leaning forward slightly, Grimmjow grimaced: »Ouch... s-stop.« Renji held him in position for a tad longer: »I was almost completely up... we continue like this and you'll become one hell of a ballerina.«

»Nngh... whatever, I can make everything work, even the _tutu_... Damn this shit hurts.«

»Oh come on, you can do better than that.«

Grimmjow's eyes locked with Renji's and a lecherous smile split the blue haired's face : »That's what _she _said...«

Renji started shaking with laughter and slowly leaned over, then pushed Grimmjow's ankle off his shoulder - not very gently, dare he say.

»Aww, don't be all bitchy now...«

»Am not.«

»Are too!«

»So childish...«

From time to time even Renji buckled under the pressure of friendly bickering that Grimmjow provoked every time he had a minute to spare and the blue-haired boy just kept on grinning when both of them started jogging at a low pace so they could talk some more.

_I missed Renji. Kurosaki just takes up so much time it's not even funny... oh._

»Hey, uh... I've been meaning to ask you something...«

After few minutes of silence, Grimmjow decided to talk about something constructive for a change. Renji turned and Grimmjow almost tripped over his own feet. The hairband that held the redhead's crimson mane in place obviously didn't do its job as well as it should and few of the loose strands were now dancing around Renji's face, following the rhythm of their pace. A thin trail of sweat was forming on Renji's forehead and his lips were slightly parted as his breathing was steadily becoming labored.

»W-what...«

_Holy shit... umm... heh. I guess there is something on that pheromone theory..._

»Well... last time I spoke somewhat coherently with Kurosaki...« Renji had the audacity to chuckle at the statement and nodded in agreement.

»H-hey! Wha... _oh never mind, _anyway... he mentioned that he joined the group at fifteen... umm...« Grimmjow paused to steady his breathing before continuing: »So now I wonder if it had... huh... anything to do with you... _shit_...«

All the while he was finishing his thought, he didn't even realise that Renji sped up and quickened the pace to an almost unbearable level. So instead of answering, Renji gave Grimmjow a sheepish look and spoke quietly: »Can't you just enjoy what you have...« and then sprinted forward, leaving again a very confused bluenette behind.

When Grimmjow finally caught up with his friend, Renji was already leaning on the fence, still catching his breath. The bluenette opened his mouth to speak but Renji stepped forward, lifting his index finger into Grimmjow's face: »Not a word. Now...« the redhead grabbed his sportsbag and produced two clean towels, smelling like blooming jasmine shrub.

_Courtesy of his mother I'm sure._ »Mmm, flowery... how's Mrs. Red?«

Renji paused and raised one eyebrow at his friend: »Better, asking when you'll come to visit, still unable to make a decent lasagna. Now stop interrupting me.«

»_Jawohl, Herr Kommandant..._«

»I was wondering how come you hardly ever hang out with your minion? He that insufferable?«

Grimmjow ran his fingers through the tangled sky-blue mane of his and grimaced. »To be honest... I'm not sure he's even in school...«

»Uh-huh.«

»No, really...« the bluenette scratched his needs-to-be-shaven chin as if he had lost a study book but had not realized that until he needed it. »... since the day the lists were out... Umm...«

»Well, I was just asking because my minion wants to go to the movies and I thought it would be less awkward if we could make it a group-thing...«

The corners of Grimmjow's lips twitched but he held himself back. Almost. »Oh you my friend are just begging for _stupid_ remarks...«

Renji grinned: »I would expect nothing _smarter_ from you...«

»Ha ha, good one. Sarcasm off, I'm sorry I cannot play babysitters with you.« He snorted. »No wait, _now_ sarcasm really is off. I at least hope that my midget will show up Monday, according to that brochure I actually have to interact with him and... I'd hate to do something to him if my marks were ruined by a bad final review...«

»Well, I heard the school is organizing a Halloween party in a week or so, to help us know each other a little better...«

Grimmjow's head shot up as he was ready for another witty retort but Renji's wide smile and raised eyebrow beat him to it. »I meant what I said.«

_I'm sure you did you silly old perv._

»How nice of them... a school party. Damn, _Red_...« Shaking his head Grimmjow moved towards the nearby bench but instead of sitting on it he rather sat down on the grass and leaned against the cold wood. That presented Renji with a whole bench free for him to lay on and he wasted no time in doing so.

»What...«

»It's been ages since we went out together.«

»Yeah, well...«

»We should fix that.«

A silent snort, followed by a wistful sigh. »What do you have in mind?«

»Still have keys to your stepfather's top secret stash we broke into the first day?«

»_Smirnoff _or Jack?«

Grimmjow cackled evily. »Both.«

Now it was Renji's turn to laugh and he raised his voice in mock wistfulness: »Man, you really grew up, I'm so proud of you _my son. _I guess that will make one hell of a Halloween, even if it is a school event...«

»Well, some sneaked-in alcohol and a good company make a decent party, but we can still bail if it's shit. Now, about the costume...«

»... _fuck_... «

»I was thinking something manly for you. You know... for a change. Like, fake abs and guns and shit.«

»Ah-hah-hah I'm dying here. But beware, my oh-so confident friend...« Renji stood up from the bench and stepped in front of still sitting Grimmjow, offering the bluenette a hand to help him stand up. »... It's not going to be _me_ the one who's getting pestered by a certain Kurosaki. Mind you, he _loves_ Halloween.«

* * *

Later that day, when Grimmjow closed the door of their luxurious condo behind him and kicked his chucks flying, not bothering to put them neatly into their mass wooden shoe storage his father had had custom-made and his mother had insisted on using, he was still dwelling on the upcoming Halloween party the school-board decided to throw in order to _give the students the much-needed opportunity to interact and socialise in a less professional and more relaxed environment or some shit like that. _He was pretty sure there was nothing in the brochure about being bound to their assigned hobbits permanently so he and Renji came up with the most brilliant plan to show their faces at the party to show their solidarity with the school spirit, then grab their stash and move on to more exciting places.

_Losing the masks was still optional but a Friday from now, every event they pick will be Halloween-themed so it really didn't matter._

Grimmjow chuckled remembering how, while walking home, Renji explained his plan to just place a large used monster-truck tire around his torso and go as a _'moldy licorice doughnut' _but then changed his mind when he realised that holding the tire in place would interfere severely with his ability to hold his Smirnoff.

Thinking on how the insides of that tire would make for one hell of a hiding space, Grimmjow's thoughts were interrupted by a female voice, coming from the kitchen: »Grimmjow, is that you?«

Some plate-to-the-table clashing and a muffled _'Damn!'_ later, Grimmjow peaked his nose into their new and shiny and almost never used kitchen, his eyes widening: »Mum? !«

A slender woman with chin-long ultramarine hair and a wide smile finally managed to put down all the dishes she loaded her arms with and reached invitingly towards her son.

Grimmjow's smile mirrored her own and he non-ceremoniously dropped his schoolbag on the floor then sprang forward, lifting the woman up into a tight embrace.

»Hey, _son_...«

_Well, give it to his mother to start sniffling over a hug._

And it wasn't like Grimmjow was far behind her on that.

His mother was the head of the PR department and a member of the board of _Garganta, Inc._, the company she helped establish with his father - the current CEO. They had always been busy, even when the company was still a small local business. But with their hard work, talent and dedication, the company spread and flourished and that, especially now as they were opening new branches all-over the world, left less and less time for to spend at home with their son. He was well-compensated though, beginning with the fact that when he was still a child, his nannies were hired meticulously, being capable on keeping the lively-bordering-on-hyperactive child entertained and - although they sometimes disgruntledly commented on Grimmjow to have enough energy to power up a nuclear plant - they were capable on distracting him from his parents' absence.

Sure, there were some envious whispers, especially from the neighbors, how a poor little child is left for others to raise him or later on, when his allowance kicked in, how his parents try and buy his love, but if there was one thing Grimmjow was sure about was that _he _didn't mind that. In fact, he was sure his parents were a perfect example of what dedication and hard work can accomplish, then offered him all the perks of upper-class life while still remaining the most gentle, loving and down-to-earth people Grimmjow has ever met.

That_'s the lesson I learned. Then again, them staying at home all the time in order to 'be with their child' would mean they cannot do what they love and that would make them miserable old farts, consequently making me miserable too. To hell with quantity, it's quality that matters._

Grimmjow tightened his embrace and his mother just kept on hugging him back, when a raspy but playful male voice reached their ears: »What, no hug for me?«

»_DAD!_« Grimmjow almost let go of his mother but the almost unbelievingly tall man with teal eyes and jet-black hair strode to the two and just placed his arms around one of his son's shoulders, the one the still-sniffling woman reluctantly let go.

»_EW_. True men don't hug!« Grimmjow's attempt on a poor excuse of a joke was muffled when his father brought both him and his mother in his arms and Grimmjow felt so happy and content as if he was a little child again. Not that he would ever, _EVER,_ admit that out loud.

»Is that what your boyfriend's telling you? My my... it sounds to me like...«

»Oh drop it Grimmy, _do _you even have a boyfriend?« The woman was giggling and Grimmjow was finally let out of the quality family hug, realising that the usual parent-child third degree had officially begun. »N-no... nothing serious, I guess...«

»Then how's Renji?«

»Eeeew, mom, still a friend? !«

His mother raised her hands in mock truce, then soothed her high-pitched voice: »Alright, alright... I was just asking... He's such a nice boy...«

»...and the only one of his friends that we know.« His father intercepted and efficiently ended the topic, seeing that Grimmjow was already scowling a little at his mother and felt a little uncomfortable, as any child in his position probably would.

They all sat down at the table and Grimmjow raised an eyebrow at the still smoldering lasagna and... _at least three kinds of salad? What the fuck?_

»Uhh... mom... I appreciate all the rabbit food but... uhh...«

His father started laughing out loud and now even the most clueless observer would notice whose courtesy those insanely sharp canines of Grimmjow were of. »Don't worry son, the salad's for me, your mother apparently decided my veins are getting clogged.«

The blue-eyed woman frowned and put a huge portion of lasagna in front of Grimmjow. »No, darling. I explicitly told you that you are one hamburger away from becoming ham yourself.«

»_Dear god..._« Grimmjow was trying to hold the exceptionally cheesy and scorchingly hot bite in his mouth while shaking the table with his laughter. » ...shtoooop...«

»Now that that's settled...« His mother actually winked and sat down. »...who's going to say grace?«

Grimmjow froze mid-chew and looked at his mother as if she had just announced she's actually phytoplankton. »WHA-?«

»Well, it was you who mentioned _God _so... I assumed...«

Grimmjow stared at his mother, appauled by... well by nothing exactly, only by the fact that he was outsmarted again.

His father sighed and grabbed his salad portion, muttering something about the curse of having bickering _women _around him when a gentle but warning smack behind his head told him to shut up.

»A-ha, domestic violence...«

»Yes, father, indeed it is. Feeding you salad, smacking you around...« Grimmjow grinned with a mouth full of lasagna and planned to join his father in a fit of laughter, when the phone buzzed in his pocket.

'_U busy?' _Grimmjow snorted- of course Kurosaki would find the way to weasel himself into his family time. Deciding on calling him back later and focusing back on actually eating dinner together with his parents, Grimmjow felt so happy his smirk felt like it's going to be plastered on his face forever.

'Meow.'

Grimmjow blinked and almost fork-stabbed himself in the face when a grey furball jumped in his lap and peaked over his plate.

»Woooh, Grimmy, where did _that _come from?«

Grimmjow looked apologetically to his mother: »Umm... Well, I adopted her...« his azures deepened in colour as he slouched in his chair and encircled his arms around the cat protectively, »...because I was _so lonely _here... I needed someone to wai-...«

»Oh, cut the crap, son.« His father's eyes glinted with mischief and Grimmjow grinned like a maniac.

»I should know better.«

»Yes, you should.«

Chuckling and fighting to keep his lasagna untouched by the cat's whiskers, Grimmjow finally managed to finish his dinner. Then he leaned back in his chair and sighed happily, scratching the kitty behind the ears as the purring mess fell asleep in his lap.

»S-so... Uhh... Can I keep her?«

Waiting for his father to finish his salad and stop ogling the remains of lasagna, Grimmjow tapped his foot impatiently and the furball in his lap decided she didn't like that so she jumped off and took her usual place on the couch, but not before she stabbed her claws in Grimmjow's thigh: »_Ow, _you little-...«

»Yes, we'll keep her.«

Grimmjow lifted his thigh to examine the damage up close and grunted: »On second thought, I just might make a sock out of her...«

His mother snickered and took away the plates, rinsing and putting them into the dishwasher. »Have you named her?«

»Uh-huh, she's... Nel.«

»Nel as...«

»Yup, the monster aunt Nori calls her daughter.«

Now, his parents had always been vivacious and they laughed all the time at his antics, but Grimmjow didn't have much time to enjoy that as his phone buzzed again.

_'Well, if not, Chad invited you to his place. Text me if you decide to join us.«_

_No... not really._

Just when he wanted to text back that he'll probably just stay at home he noticed his father moving himself on the couch and turning on the TV, watching some boring business channel, and his mother soon joined him. Snuggled together they locked their attention to the news and allowed themselves to comment and criticise almost everything the news anchor dared to state.

»Helloooo, people...?«

»...euro zone declined, how about the precaution measures-yes, sweetie?«

»Uhh...« His mother's striking eyes watched him attentively as she fixed her black-framed glasses. Grimmjow stood at the living room entrance, holding the phone in one hand and running the fingers of the other through his blue locks. »... so, I take you won't hold it against me if I go out? I mean... Ugh, there's only so many times one can hear 'tax revenue' before their brain melts. Right?«

One loud snort, a hot shower and a hearty 'Have fun' later, Grimmjow was walking down the street towards the address Kurosaki texted him earlier.

He recognized the neighborhood where Chad lived with his grandfather and he knew that its reputation wasn't nearly as flawless as the one's Grimmjow lived. And yet, he knew enough about so-called respected citizens and just how deviant and corrupted those uptight always-wearing-a-tie individuals could be to hold a healthy respect for those who just tried to survive day to day. Moving slowly past a group of young men that were sitting on the stairs in front of what looked like a decrepit block of even more decrepit flats, he would had paid them no attention if it wasn't for the music that was blaring out of one of the ground floor flats.

_'Life's kinda always been messing with me'_

He knew the song by heart, it was one of his favorites.

_'You wanna see the light?'_

He smiled at himself and silently whispered the lyrics: _»Sometimes I cannot take this place, Sometimes it's my life I can't taste...«_

»Oy, blue, what are you laughing at?«

_Ignore._

»Rich-bitch, talkin'to you here!«

_Fuck you._

Grimmjow stopped in his tracks and turned towards the group, frowning a little. »Oh... yeah?«

One of the boys stood up and approached him slowly with a menacing grin:»Got a lighter?«

_Stupid pick-up line, might as well just hit me across the face... _»Nope.«

»That's not polite. You should say you're sorry.«

»Nope.«

The boy was barely shorter than Grimmjow but in all didn't look that well-trained... there was just a slight problem of his friends watching them with interest and Grimmjow really knew better than expect them to fight fair.

»Then I'll make you say it.«

»Look...« Grimmjow straightened up and watched the man warily. »I could tell you you sound like a bad porn actor but... could you just bother the dog or something...?«

The boy blinked twice as if he just now recognized the thinly veiled insult, then snarled: »Don't think so bitch...« Brass knuckles on his hand glinted in the dim rays of the street light and Grimmjow barely avoided the first swing. The boy looked as if he were drunk but, while standing quite close to him before, Grimmjow didn't smell anything.

_So it must be something else._

The boy's moves were sloppy and more and more uncoordinated and Grimmjow soon realised that the boy didn't really pose a threat. Avoiding the amateur blows soon became a piece of cake due to all his athletic training and quick reflexes and Grimmjow couldn't help but indulge himself in a small of smartassing again: »Wait, allow me to let Yasotura know I'll be late... this looks like it'll go on for quite a while...«

»_Y-Yasotura? !_«

The boy stopped. Froze. Wide grey eyes became a tad terrified as he looked at Grimmjow and then stuttered: »A-are... you... uh...«

»Am I what? Oh good...« Grimmjow sighed. » You stopped. Can I go now?« He turned to leave the still unmoving boy behind, but changed his mind: »On second thought, can you show me where he lives?«

»Uh...«

Grimmjow rolled his eyes at the confused boy and turned to leave, when the boy spoke quietly: »The last block down the street, fifth floor... but you're probably looking for his quarters so just go down to the basement...«

The blue-haired athlete was now thoroughly surprised with the specifics, but he smiled at the boy and uttered a barely audible 'thanks'.

Leaving the group behind, he couldn't help himself but ponder on the fact how shocked the boy was at the mention of Chad's name.

_Maybe their reputation really over-reaches the school grounds..._

* * *

Entering the building the boy instructed him to find, Grimmjow's nose was mercilessly attacked with a non-pleasant combination of mold scent and cigarette smoke as he descended to the basement. If he knew anything about how such buildings were constructed, it was going to be one hell of a challenge to find the right basement, considering that usually every flat came with one.

His dilemma was quickly resolved however, when he heard a muffled sound of blaring music coming out from behind one of the doors down the dark barely lit and downright illegally moldy hall.

The base line sounded kind of familiar and if Grimmjow remembered correctly, it belonged to Kurosaki's iPod playlist, so he challenged his luck and banged on the door the music seemed to flow behind from. Few short moments had passed and then the door opened, revealing a scowling face, framed with shiny orange hair.

The scowl was quickly gone though: »Grimmjow!«

Kurosaki threw his hands around the bluenette's neck and hugged him quickly, before the lean body moved away from his own and he was dragged inside, door closing loudly behind him. »Come in! Welcome to _the Wasteyard_.«

The space itself was not that big and to literally calling it a dump was a tad exaggerated, but Grimmjow noticed it was spacious enough for the boys to fit in a small table which was pushed against the wall, proudly presenting some computer machinery with a 27-inch monitor, connected to a true state of the art sound system that surrounded the room from every corner.

In the middle of the basement there was a smaller club table and two worn-out sofas on each side. The table was littered with what looked like too-full ashtrays and some empty cans of beer, but what really took Grimmjow's attention were... _clothes._ Lots and lots of them, covering the sofas to the point of having trouble finding a spot to sit on and somehow just didn't belong.

Noticing the slightly raised blue eyebrows, Kurosaki smiled and piled all the apparel to one huge cloth-pile and urged Grimmjow to sit on the sofa next to him.

»Why are you acting all shy, it's just us...«

Grimmjow snorted and slowly moved to Kurosaki's side, sitting on the armrest of the sofa but apparently Kurosaki had other ideas since he tugged on his sleeve and made him sit closer, not wasting much time before his lips found the bluenette's with a slight urge.

»Uh... Kurosaki, I'm...«

»On a period?« The redhead moved swiftly from his spot and straddled the taller boy, surprising him to the point when he couldn't even appreciate the subtle insult. Smirking, Kurosaki latched his own lips to Grimmjow's neck and moved his hips a little, which left Grimmjow groaning:

»So this actually _was _a booty-call?«

Kurosaki suddenly stopped in his tracks and wide but obviously annoyed brown eyes locked with the blue ones: »_Booty-call? ! _What are you, an after school special from the twenties?«

The attitude left Grimmjow surprised for a moment but his own annoyance rose it's head: »Jesus Christ, who's on a period now...«

The bluenette rubbed his eyes in exasperation and leaned his head back on the sofa. »Look, I...«

»Eh, leave it, I'm not in the mood of being persuasive tonight. Besides, Shin and Chad are on the way, so...«

»The fuck are _you _pouting for? It wasn't me who started the bitch fit.«

Kurosaki stood up and moved towards the pile of clothing, throwing it around and generally making even a bigger mess. »Pff, whatever I won't let you ruin my Halloween mood.«

Taking a few breaths, Grimmjow calmed down his irritated state to the point of being able to reach the only logical conclusion, that is to change the topic and hope he didn't leave the rare opportunity for spending time with his parents for _this bitchy attitude._

»What's all that?«

Moments of silence, then the answer: »Clothes.«

_Breathe in, breathe out...Ignore the obvious PMS..._

»Oh fuck no, you didn't rob the Red Cross, did you?«

Kurosaki snorted and shook his head exasperatedly: »Such a troll... look, these are almost all proffessional made costumes that were at one point in time used in The National Theatre... see this one for example,« he pulled out a gray, tattered cloth that once seemed to resemble a large long sleeved shirt, »this one is from the Beckett's _'Waiting for Godot'_, as it was performed on a national all-university comp-...«

Grimmjow started laughing histerically and actually leaned on the redhead's shoulder for support: »You are seriously NOT trying to woo me with _that_ crap...« wiping away the tears of laughter he returned to his previous spot and let the redhead throw the rags around a little more.

Kurosaki's eyes actually sparkled when he turned to face the still cackling bluenette but whatever he planned to say back was interrupted by two figures that entered the room, chatting cheerily while one of them gestured wildly while talking: »...and after the low dodge, he was awarded with only two points. Poor boy he-_oh._«

The blonde stopped mid-sentence and stared incredulously at Grimmjow: »Chibichad, since when do we let the trash in?«

»Oh chill Shin, I told Ichigo to invite him. Here,« Chad moved inside and grabbed three cans out of the mini-fridge, shoving one in the pouting blonde's hands, »this'll help. Hey, Grimmjow...«

The brown-haired giant gently urged Shinji towards the computer and the blonde understood his task completely: unplug Kurosaki's iPod, put some less atrocious music on. While the redhead lamented and threw around the clothes even more furiously then before, Chad sat on the armrest Grimmjow occupied before and offered another can of beer to the bluenette: »I guess Kurosaki offered none of this, huh.«

Grimmjow snorted and bumped his can with the one Chad was holding: »He offered nothing but himself.« Watching his red-haired schoolmate as he was fussing around with the costumes and comparing one piece to another, only to scowl some more and throw them on the floor, then repeating the process all-over again.

»He being a pain in the ass?«

Grimmjow took the first sip of beer and he was pleased to find out it was the good stuff, so he took his time for another one, then answered truthfully: »Yup, how did you know?«

Chad smirked and looked at the redhead. There was no small amount of appreciation in that glance and while the taller boy probably didn't even do it on purpose, Grimmjow recognised Chad's universal apprehensive expression regarding his... well, he could say friends but the boys seemed to regard eachother more like work-collegues or at least they wanted to. At that moment, the bluenette wondered if there really is more to these rich spoiled brats that had too much time and too little worries on their hands, but Chad's chuckle brought him back: »It's Halloween, so he gets all antsy and wants to drag us down the drain with him. We actually went as _The Sopranos _group mask one year.«

Grimmjow's eyes bulged: »No shit... He made even Nnoi dress up?«

»Aha, he's one scary fuck if he wants to be...«

_I have to get out of here._

»Although last year,...« Chad emptied his can in few gulps, then rose. »...last year we confronted him about this obsession of his and explained that while we love him very much we'll make him eat camel shit if he ever mentions group masks again. Want another one?«

Grimmjow's snort almost left Chad's reached-out hand involuntarily covered with the beer he just drank but he managed to keep it in, shaking with laughter.

»Sure... uhh, so I don't have to bolt right?«

The now empty can was crushed in the tanned hand to fill the pause Chad took, before he tilted his head a little to take a better look at the blue-haired athlete, then answered: »Why would you bolt? You are with us, aren't you?«

A slight frown manifested Grimmjow's moment of unease as Chad apparently greatly misinterpreted his joke, but he never was much on a cowardly side and he wasn't planning to move there anytime soon. So he grinned as wide as he could, winked to the brown-haired giant towering above him and stated: »Don't know what you're talking about.«

Snorting, Chad turned around to get them both another drink, while he muttered to himself: »_Exactly._«

Meanwhile, Shinji managed to persuade Kurosaki to stop pestering him about the music as his own tastes were apparently more _sophisticated and refined_, so naturally the next song that assaulted Grimmjow's ears was constructed by heavy screaming and growling, topped with too-loud drums and was a total mess in the end, but it was completely worth it since Shinji stood up from behind the computer and started moshing, his long blonde hair flowing around as he apparently enjoyed the ruckus.

Grimmjow smiled sheepishly as the blonde knocked over one of thankfully empty ashtrays but continued to jumping up and down the place, while growling the barely recognizable lyrics. At one moment he chose to jump on the sofa and air-guitar Kurosaki's face off but the redhead apparently didn't find it funny at all so he smacked the back of blondie's head and retreated to the safety at Grimmjow's side. Like a sulky child, he leaned on Grimmjow's shoulder, muttering something about _'sport-induced brain damage' _and _'perfect murder'_.

Grimmjow smiled at him and raised one eyebrow to show his reluctance to the loud noise the still air-guitaring blonde called good music, as he was unable to talk due to the fact that Shinji once again increased the volume. The bluenette was ready to mock the hell out of the redhead for loving Halloween enough to sulk about it but then he caught a swift glimpse of sadness in those brown eyes and it tugged him the wrong way. It still didn't mean that Grimmjow felt anything _more _towards the redhead but it didn't mean he wanted to see him hurt either, albeit he didn't really know what the saddened expression stood for.

_'Mind you, he loves Halloween.'_

Renji's words jumped out. It took him a moment to recognize the pattern his brain apparently knew all along and Grimmjow suddenly had an epiphany.

_It's like some people feel if someone doesn't share the Christmas spirit and all that crap._

So he stood up and made his way towards the computer, leaving Kurosaki just a moment to lament about his absence, then turned the noise off.

The silence that met him was deafening and he smirked, then turned around to face Shinji. The blonde stood on the sofa, frozen in motion as his mouth was hanging open, as if he was unable to comprehend that a newcomer dared to enter his territory, take a dump, then politely ask for toilette paper and giving him a quarter for inconvenience.

Grimmjow was unable to stop himself from laughing at the blonde's expression but before he could explain himself the blonde was at him, grabbing him by his collar and hissing: »Who allowed _you_ to touch my shit you dumbfuck? ! I should beat your faggot ass for even thinking about it!«

It took him a moment to overcome the speed the blondie was apparently capable of but when Grimmjow came to his senses he pushed him away as he was feeling nicely pissed off himself: »Oh _yeah? _Well assface, maybe if your parents dropped you less as a kid maybe you wouldn't be so brain-damaged and would actually notice that you are ruining Ichigo's costumes.«

The blonde's snarl actually receeded as his eyes flickered to the redhead's direction and Grimmjow continued: »Look, I give exactly zero fucks about Halloween but somehow it seems important to Ichigo so how about you keep your sissy fit low and we let him have his fun?«

Shinji was apparently conflicted, because he knew that the bluenette had the point but still, his pride didn't allow him to forget his needs for setting territory limits. Thankfully, he was distracted by the voice that had just entered the basement: »...in for a surprise. Yo, bitches! Look who I found lurking around the block!«

Nnoitra was grinning widely and as he stepped aside, Grimmjow noticed two additional figures that entered behind him. One of them was a tall brawny man with shoulder-length brown hair and droopy eyes that lazily glanced around the basement, lingering a little longer on the bluenette. The other was shorter and ghostly pale with waist-long snow white locks, but the thing that surprised Grimmjow the most was that he himself knew exactly who they were.

_The old members, the old-farts as Nnoi called them. Starrk and Shirosaki._

»SHIRO!« Kurosaki looked like he forgot his bad mood for a moment and he jumped off the couch only to bolt across the room as he threw himself on the white-haired guy. Shirosaki was apparently glad to see him too, since he returned the hug enthusiastically: »Hey there, King. Still a hugger I see...« Kurosaki let go of him immediately but the wide grin never left him: »H-how...«

»Here for the weekend,« Starrk answered, »and we decided to check on your sorry asses as we were sure you would decay without us.«

Now Chad and Sinji also approached the group and, after some serious shoulder-patting and hearty greetings, the whole group finally made their way to the sofas while Shinji raided the mini-fridge for some drinks.

»Nah... Star, look! They got a new addition!« Shirosaki nodded towards Grimmjow - who was busy dwelling on just how the hell did they manage to buy so much alcohol with none of them being of age - with a lecherous smile, as he raised his chin in greeting: »Hey gorgeous.«

»Oy, leave him be, he's mine!«

»Heh, really...« Starrk smiled at the faintly scowling bluenette and strode to him, offering him a hand: »Starrk Coyote, nice to meet you officially, Grimmjow. So, you are our strawberry's new boytoy?«

Grimmjow's scowl morphed drastically into one of his wide grins, as he took the offered hand: »More like a prized posession, but one does what one can. See...« his blue eyes found Kurosaki's, »even _they _remember me.«

Starrk's slightly raised brown eyebrows demanded at least some kind of explanation but the younger boy just shrugged and elaborated: »Kurosaki here wants to persuade me that I've been hiding for three whole years now, since his majesty only recently aknowledged my existance...«

Shirosaki cackled at the statement and sat next to Ichigo, then ruffled a little baffled, but still grinning Ichigo's hair: »The curse of a genious mind, I tell you.«

»Yeah yeah...« Nnoitra efficiently interrupted them, but didn't sit down as he made himself busy dragging a huge carton board from underneath of one of the sofas. »Enough of the chitchat, I wanna know what college life's like!«

Starrk and Grimmjow found their place on the opposite sofa and all the younger boys eagerly looked at the two freshmen, except for Nnoitra who was kneeling on the floor hovering above the carton, then produced two large markers and furiously started scribbling on the carton surface. None of the others actually paid much attention to the lanky boy as they expected some serious enterteinment from college life.

»It's nothing much really... thanks Shin,« Starrk accepted the offered beer and the can let out a hiss as he opened it. »It's pretty much day-to-day life, since we usually don't bother to go out and party...«

»Oh _come on_!« Shinji's face fell a little as he sat next to the melancholic man, »are you seriously trying to sell us this goody-goody student attitude? We want dirt, we want extravaganza, we want... something? !«

Starrk smirked and slowly traced the sharp outline of the can. »Well, there's not much time for anything else than lectures, reports and all-night practice...«

One mischevious glance to Shirosaki was apparently enough for both of them to share a quite apparent inside joke as the pale boy grinned and continued: »Ahh, the practice... the fun part of applying college theory to real-life problems...«

Grimmjow was a little lost at the conversation and felt the need for some fact-straightening, so he asked: »So what exactly do you two study?«

»Computer science, down to the core.«

»Both of you?«

It was Starrk who nodded and winked to the grinning fellow student: »Aha, schoolmates and roommates. Sometimes I wonder if we should expand our horizons and actually socialise with other dimwits around the campus...«

»Neh, no need for that. See,« Shirosaki crushed his can and threw it across the room just to nail the trash bin perfectly, »our practice time takes a lot of energy and work, but most of all... trust. So I really have no need for other maggots to poke their snotty noses into our room. They might see something worth killing for.«

Grimmjow felt a slight chill down his spine as the golden eyes locked with his, as if the snowman was trying to make a specific point.

His surprise only increased as the older boy next to him nodded seriously and added: »Too many questions to answer, yes.«

»So on an even more serious note... have you two fucked yet?« Nnoitra didn't even bother to turn around when he stated his question as he was still savaging the carton board to the fibers with his red marker, but his quite broad back – for someone so lanky at least – hid the results from the sight of others.

Starrk actually looked a little taken aback and Grimmjow could swear that his white-haired schoolmate carried a faint blush on his snowy pale cheeks.

After a few moments of silence, Shirosaki stood up and made his way to the opposite sofa, squeezing himself between Starrk and Grimmjow, then put his pale hand on the former's shoulder. »Told ya it's stupid to hide it...«

Droopy brown eyes relaxed and softened and Starrk sneaked his hand around Shirosaki's lean shoulders. »Uhh... yeah... we did some experimentation on our part. You know...« he looked around and was met with quite a few baffled wide-eyed stares, »like good college kids...«

Nnoitra's shoulders started to shake and he literally bent over to the cardboard, howling with laughter. »Ooh, you better, shit...« another fit of laughter, then: »Oh fuck, fuck, you dipshits... finally...«

Slowly the lanky boy stood up and turned towards still shocked Chad: »Pay up _princeza_, and give me a smoke while you're at it.«

Chad's expression didn't change even after he opened his wallet and paid for the bet he lost, not even after he made it his job to throw his pack directly into Nnoitra's forehead, while the latter still cackled like a hiyena.

»Since _when?_«

Throughout the commotion Grimmjow had moved himself to sit next to Ichigo, who looked just as surprised as the others, but still scooted closer to the bluenette and entangled his fingers with his own.

»Oh, since the _fishing _incident...« Something michievious flashed in Shirosaki's golden eyes as he looked at his obviously more-than-roommate as his pale fingers removed a piece of non-existent dust from Starrk's black sweater. »He was just too hot to resist.«

Nnoitra now looked thorroughly annoyed as he placed his hands on his hips: »Fuck you Shiroflake, either you explain or stop with that inside-joke nonsense... Or are we really supposed to believe you two rent a boat form time to time?! _God!_« he took a place on the sofa himself and rubbed his eyes, »I swear you two are even more difficult now than before... and here I thought you two just have to fuck it out but _nooo_...«

»One thing at the time, Nnoi.« Starrk's voice was still gentle but the undertone implied the serious meaning behind the statement. »On a lighter note... _what the fuck is that?_«

All eyes now actually focused on the cardboard that Nnoitra left on the floor and the tall boy grunted, than stood up and made a show of lifting and presenting the sign: »May I present to you... in black and red and bloody lettering to show I fucking mean business... the universal law of the Wasteyard that will never, _ever, EVER _BE BREACHED!«

With that, he raised the board higher so everyone in the room could take a look at the sign that stated _'NO MINIONS ALLOWED'._

Now it was Starrk and Shirosaki's turn to feel confused as the others lost it in laughter and made it clear they completely agree with Nnoitra.

»My little pest was actually afraid of me for the first two days and I almost peed myself with laughter, but then apparently the little midget read the fucking brochure and is now following me around, declaring we should hang out and shit like that!« The tall boy threw the board on the floor again and helped himself with another beer. »Fuck me if I let her anywhere close to here. I'm hammering this sign on the door, whether you...« his lanky index finger pointed at Chad, who was nodding in approval, »...like it or not.«

»No objections here, buddy... although I kinda like mine, he's a damn genious after all...«

»And I like mine, the Kurotsuschi heir.« Kurosaki proudly stated as if the pairing was his own doing. Grimmjow snorted at that and again felt the need to explain the facts to the two older men, who all but succeeded at deducting what their younger friends talked about: »The school decided to make us, seniors, babysitters for the juniors. That's basically it.«

»Oh by the way, Grimmjow... I haven't seen your minion around much, where is he?«

The bluenette could swear that there was a certain quality to Kurosaki's voice when he posed his question but before he was able to utter the intended _'I think he's avoiding me'_ answer, he was stopped by Shirosaki's raised eyebrows that almost disappeared into his scalp as a spark of recognition glinted in that golden eyes of his: »D-don't tell me... Really? You are now a part of _The Watchers Programme_? ALL of you?«

Seeing that noone countered, the white-haired student sighed and stood up. »Well, apparently we got the easy way out. That shit's important kids, don't screw it up. Few schools have participated in this the year prior than Karakura High and I personally know some individuals whose college applications were denied solely on the grounds of not having the _W-P _recommendation. Now, I'm sorry to say but we have to go, right Star?«

Starrk reluctantly stood up. »Yes, we have to. I'll see you again at the New year's, OK?«

The youger boys looked a little disappointed at their sudden leave, but were a little consolated with Shirosaki's promise to throw the _stupidest-party-ever_ when they see eachother again. So they said their goodbyes but not before Starrk pulled Grimmjow aside for a private conversation:

»Listen... I know this all looks fine and dandy but I hope you understand that the boys have a certain... business to run. I'd hate if something went wrong now that I can't be here to control the damage.«

Confused at his words at first, Grimmjow needed a moment before the realisation dawned on him that all of the inside jokes - from unexplained questions to averted topics - were due to his presence only. He realised that Starrk didn't trust him and he realised that the not so thinly-veiled threat Shirosaki so diplomatically threw at him before was indeed just that.

_A threat._

»I have too much to lose to be that stupid.«

Starrk's eyes flickered to the redhead that was currently hugging Shirosaki goodbye while the white-haired boy cackled and tried to peel him off himself.

»I surely hope so, Grimmjow.«

The bluenette followed the older student's gaze and again recognized Starrk's conclusion a tad too late: »N-no, Starrk... Uhh... I'm not in for Kurosaki. I'm in because...«

_No, really, why indeed?_

Starrk just waved his aswer off and gave him another stern look: »Don't care, Grimmjow. It's your choice, just... don't be surprised if at one point you'll find yourself defending things that are not meant to be defended. _Then _it's going to be too late.«

_Ding fucking dong asshole, been there already._

Without another word, Starrk moved away and greeted the others, then took a hold of Shirosaki's hand and they left.

The two students must had really meant a world to the boys. Grimmjow noticed that Kurosaki almost looked teary-eyed when the two left, so consequently, the other boys decided in unison that the best thing to do for the rest of the evening was to try and keep him sober, not to burn any of the precious costumes of his with cigarettes and generally keep out of his way. Shinji felt himself a little down too, so he even decided to help the redhead choose his beloved Halloween costumes for a party he was kind of excited to go to and that was only a week worth of days away.

* * *

_Thanks to my bishie beta - you kind of make this worth writing X)  
_


End file.
